noun
General Slang
Riah
/ˈraɪə/ · noun · slang
Polari for hair — simply 'hair' spelled backwards, a classic back-slang coining.
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Definitions
1
Often paired with 'zhoosh' (to style) and 'shusher' or 'riah-zhoosher' for a hairdresser.
“He works as a riah-zhoosher up West.”
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2
In Polari, the hair. It is back-slang: 'hair' reversed gives 'riah', one of the cant's tidiest coded words.
“Let me zhoosh your riah before we troll out.”
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3
By extension, a hairstyle or wig, central to camp self-presentation.
“That riah must have taken her an hour to set.”
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Riah In A Sentence
Her riah was a fantabulosa shade of platinum.
Give the riah a quick zhoosh and nobody will know we've been up all night.
He spent more on his riah than his rent.
Origin & Usage
Polari of mid-20th-century Britain; 'riah' is back-slang for 'hair', a coding documented by Paul Baker and rooted in the older back-slang of costermongers recorded by Mayhew (1851).
People Also Ask
What does riah mean?
It is Polari for hair — 'hair' spelled backwards.
Why is riah hair backwards?
Polari borrowed the back-slang trick of reversing words to make them hard for outsiders to follow.
What is a riah-zhoosher?
A hairdresser — someone who styles ('zhooshes') the hair.
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