noun General Slang

Omi-Palone

/ˌəʊmiː pəˈləʊni/ · noun · slang

Polari for a gay man — literally 'man-woman', a coded self-name under criminalisation.

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Definitions

1

In Polari, a gay man, formed by joining 'omi' (man) and 'palone' (woman). It let speakers name themselves and each other safely when homosexuality was illegal in Britain.

“Half the bar were omi-palones, but you'd never know to vada them.”
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2

Used as a marker of belonging and recognition between gay men, a quiet password of solidarity.

“He dropped the word omi-palone into the chat, and we both relaxed.”
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3

Reflects Polari's pattern of building queer terms by combining its words for man and woman, as in the mirror term 'palone-omi' for a lesbian.

“Omi-palone for him, palone-omi for her — the cant had a word for everyone.”
by community
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Omi-Palone In A Sentence

Being an omi-palone in 1955 meant living half your life in code.
The whole point of Polari was so two omi-palones could talk in plain sight.
He introduced his friend as 'a lovely old omi-palone like us'.

Origin & Usage

Polari of mid-20th-century Britain, when sex between men was criminalised until 1967; the compound 'omi-palone' (man-woman) is documented in Paul Baker's histories of the cant.

Variants homy-paloneomee-palone
Tags #polari#lgbtq#british#heritage#vintage#identity

People Also Ask

What does omi-palone mean?

It is Polari for a gay man, literally 'man-woman' from 'omi' and 'palone'.

Why did gay men need a word like omi-palone?

Homosexuality was a crime in Britain until 1967, so coded language let men identify each other safely.

Is there a Polari word for a lesbian?

Yes — 'palone-omi', literally 'woman-man', the mirror image of omi-palone.

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