lills / luppers
Polari for hands ('lills') and fingers ('luppers').
Definitions
Hands. Part of the head-to-toe Polari body lexicon. If you knew the words you could clock someone's mannerisms, jewellery or wandering grip without a single straight person at the bar catching on.
Fingers, specifically ('luppers'). Usually paired with lills the way 'hands and fingers' go together. Comes up describing gestures, nail varnish, or someone getting handsy.
lills / luppers In A Sentence
Origin & Usage
Polari, the secret cant of British gay men, drag performers and theatre folk that peaked from the 1930s to the 1960s. 'Lills' meaning hands and 'luppers' meaning fingers sit alongside the body vocabulary that let speakers gossip about anyone in plain sight.
People Also Ask
What do lills and luppers mean?
In Polari, 'lills' means hands and 'luppers' means fingers.
How do you use lills and luppers in a sentence?
"Get your luppers off that" tells someone to take their fingers away from it.
What language do lills and luppers come from?
They come from Polari, the secret cant used by gay men and theatre performers in 20th-century Britain.
Comments 0