View source for Polari

===Mainstream usage===
[[File:Bona Togs shop Jersey.jpg|thumb|alt=Storefront with "Bona Togs" signage in white letters on a dark background|''Bona Togs'', a [[St Helier]] shop named in Polari]]
A number of words from Polari have entered mainstream slang. The list below includes words in general use with the meanings listed: ''acdc'', ''barney'', ''blag'', ''butch'', ''camp'', ''khazi'', ''cottaging'', ''hoofer'', ''mince'', ''ogle'', ''scarper'', ''slap'', ''strides'', ''tod'', ''[rough] trade''.{{fact|date=October 2025}}

The Polari word ''{{lang|pld|naff}}'', meaning inferior or tacky, has an uncertain etymology. [[Michael Quinion]] says it is probably from the 16th-century Italian word ''{{lang|it|gnaffa}}'', meaning "a despicable person".<ref name="quinaff">{{cite web |url= http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-naf1.htm |title=Naff |last=Quinion |first=Michael |work=[[World Wide Words]] |access-date=10 January 2010}}</ref> There are a number of [[false etymologies]], many based on [[backronym]]s—"Not Available For Fucking", "Normal As Fuck", etc. The phrase "naff off" was used [[euphemistically]] in place of "fuck off" along with the [[intensifier]] "naffing" in [[Keith Waterhouse]]'s ''[[Billy Liar]]'' (1959).<ref name=billy1>{{cite book |last=Waterhouse |first=Keith |title=Billy Liar |publisher=[[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]] |year=1959 |pages=35, 46 |isbn=0-7181-1155-9}}
''p35'' "Naff off, Stamp, for Christ sake!"&nbsp;''p46'' "Well which one of them's got the naffing engagement ring?"</ref> Usage of "naff" increased in the 1970s when the [[television]] [[sitcom]] ''[[Porridge (1974 TV series)|Porridge]]'' employed it as an alternative to expletives which were not broadcastable at the time.<ref name=quinaff/> [[Princess Anne]] allegedly told a reporter to "naff off" at the Badminton horse trials in April 1982.<ref>{{cite book|title=The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English|last1=Dalzell|first1=Tom|last2=Victor|first2=Terry|publisher=Routledge|year=2006|volume=II|page=1349}}</ref> However, the photographers who were present have since stated that this was a censored version of what she actually said.<ref>{{cite news |title=Princess Never Said 'Naff Off' – 'We Made It Up' |url= https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1175396/princess-anne-royal-news-princess-royal-family-latest-update-press-naff-off-spt |work=Daily Express |location= London |date=8 September 2019 |first=Abbie |last=Llewelyn |access-date=28 January 2022}}</ref>

"{{lang|pld|Zhoosh}}" ({{IPAc-en|ʒ|ʊ|ʃ|,_|ʒ|uː|ʃ}};<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zhoosh|title=Definition for Zhoosh – Oxford Dictionaries Online (World English) |website=Oxforddictionaries.com|access-date=9 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911183034/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/zhoosh|archive-date=11 September 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> alternatively spelled "{{lang|pld|zhuzh}}," "{{lang|pld|jeuje}}," and a number of other variety spellings<ref name="Phelan">{{Cite web |last=Phelan |first=Hayley |date=31 January 2022 |title='Jeuje,' 'Zhoosh,' 'Zhuzh': A Word of Many Spellings, and Meanings |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/style/jeuje-zhoosh-zhuzh.html |access-date=12 January 2024 |website=The New York Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013223912/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/style/jeuje-zhoosh-zhuzh.html |archive-date=13 October 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>), meaning to smarten up, style or improve something, became commonplace in the mid-2000s, having been used in the 2003 United States TV series ''[[Queer Eye for the Straight Guy]]'' and ''[[What Not to Wear (American TV series)|What Not to Wear]]''.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} "{{lang|pld|Jush}}", an alternative spelling of the word, was popularised by drag queen [[Jasmine Masters]] after her appearance on the [[RuPaul's Drag Race (season 7)|seventh series]] of [[RuPaul's Drag Race]] in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://youtube.com/watch?v=39BWUUE72Sg&feature=share |title=Jasmine Masters the Meaning of Jush |date=7 April 2017 |via=YouTube|access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title='Drag Race' Queen Jasmine Masters Explains What 'Jush' Means: Watch|url= https://www.billboard.com/culture/pride/jasmine-masters-drag-race-queen-jush-video-8458987/|magazine=Billboard |date=4 June 2018 |first=Rebecca |last=Schiller |access-date=26 November 2022}}</ref>