Chicken and chickenhawks.

Hanky Code.

The word trick to refer to a sexual partner

How I wish I was a chicken again so I could undo some of my biggest mistakes in life as well as enjoy the amorous attention of men in bars !

Polari.

r4 What does that mean?

Yes but what is the specific Polari you know but the young'uns don't

Street Meat

I remember when everyone would say, “Oh such!” Like saying oh shit. I remember the terms chicken and chicken hawk.

Fairy, as in “Suck my dick, you fucking Fairy!”

Trade

Polari made gay men sound like they just walked of the set of A Clockwork Orange.

[quote] What does that mean?

It's old. I listen to a lot of old time radio, and a lot of the fellas call their girls 'chicken.'

It's a term of endearment.

Dinge Queen

Rice Queen

Snow Queen

he/she

Tranny, meaning transvestite.

Tea room

Drop your hair/bobby pins.

Oh, Louise.

[quote]Trade

This is still used widely. It may have fallen out of use for a while, but like “Mary,” it has made a comeback with the younguns.

r17 What did tea room mean?

cruisy bathroom

As r7 said, street meat.

"The tubs" for "bathhouse."

"Wrinkle room" for any bar where the clientele was over 40.

R20, Here's a tea room.

OP, thanks for that lovely photo of Leo and Lance.

Cottaging

"Hairbender" for hairdresser.

"Dropping a few bobby pins" has the same meaning as the current "spill some tea."

I watch the video at R23 and have to wonder what kind of sick, homophobic closet cases would go to the trouble of rigging up a public restroom with cameras.

Light in your loafers

"Mousing" (out on the prowl/ hunting for the D)

'ducats' or 'pearls' to mean 'cash/money'

Doing the beat

A few Polari idioms:

“pastry cutter” (a man’s oral sex technique) “tipping the ivy” (tuchus lingus) “vogue us up ducky” (light me a cigarette) and Hilda Handcuffs, Betsy Badge, and The Orderly Daughters (terms for the police).

Would be great if some of these made a comeback in the gay lexicon, rather than what we have now which is basically just made up of 98% Rupauls Drag Race references and 2% milk.

Seafood

I don't understand, I thought all gay culture "came from black drag queens".

R33 Black trannys you better mean

If you want to hear Conversational Polari, Google "Putting on the Dish," a short dramatic film completely spoken in Polari. Also, there's a scene in "Velvet Goldmine," and there are some Julian and Sandy episodes online. Once you bona, you'll never go back!

Glory hole.

So many young guys don't know what they're missing by not having the porn stores with "arcades" in the back for a quick relief session.

Then, zip up your pants and leave.

Interesting thread! I'm learning many new old terms lol. Being gay back then seems like so much fun. I feel like we no longer have our own insular culture due to teen girls appropriating the heck out of it. Also, what a great picture choice, OP! Leo Ford is definitely one of my favorite pornstars of all time.

Leo got quite skanky, quickly, but he fucked with passion!

#12 Lance (David Alan Reis, 1962-1991/suicide due to AIDS)

Where do you begin with Lance? He was the gay-porn Madonna — one name only, please! This lumbering blond surfer came off as young, dumb and full of come-hither looks that he would happily consummate at length and with gusto.

He definitely had a big one and always seemed thrilled to share it. I think what I liked best about him was the contrast of the blond hair and the natural brown bush.

Lance reportedly grew up in foster-care environments and had a substance-abuse problem, but his issues were never reflected in his work, in which he always came off as carefree and sex-positive, especially in movies like Good Times (1982), Leo & Lance (1983), Big & Thick (1984), Student Bodies (1984) and Blonds Do It Best (1985).

Packing - meaning having a big dick

Sister Woman - what you call your gay friends

Queen - we don't use that much anymore

Tunnel of Fudge - asshole

Take it up the butt - 'nuf said

Make me touch myself - make me horny

Horndog

Dark meat

Lily Law.

Tomcatting.

Stemming the rose/Rose leaves.

Tipping the velvet.

Queer for boys.

Box lunch

Friend of Dorothy

Look at that BOX! - a big dick hiding in clothes

R42: FOD

I'm gonna nut!

Smegma

R44 = Eric Swalwell

Member of the chorus

Does he sing in the choir?

Is he.... musical?

Is he family?

Chickenhawk...my goodness, the memories!

Brothers

[quote] Being gay back then seems like so much fun.

Except for getting arrested, beaten up, outed, or losing your job it was a blast!

Lover, as in "Let me introduce you to my lover George", meaning boyfriend, partner or husband.

For days = An intensifier ("dick for days")

For points = With skill ("Miss Thing worked that gown for points, honey!")

Through = Ugly, tacky, badly dressed, etc. "Gurl, that queen looks through and wrong."

Rotted = See above

Ill piece = Somebody through and rotted

Used = Shocked, horrified, pissed

The Tee = flawless, hot shit (different from "tea" as in gossip)

Grease = gossip

Cracked or face-cracked = hit by shocking news, rendered speechless

Gooked = screwed over, swindled, taken advantage of

Trick was a noun (who was that cute trick of yours?) but also a verb (were you out tricking?)

Younger guys may still be using the former, but I've never heard it said nowadays without irony.

Also, trade, especially in the narrow traditional sense of "straight" men who get serviced: rough trade, etc.

Miss Thing — I was going to say, r52, that nobody says "Miss Thing" anymore. That was everywhere in the '90s.

We also no longer "Talk to the Hand."

GURL

Kewl

"Truck Driver" for a lesbian, "Confirmed Bachelor," "Shirt Lifter," "Pansy," Poof," "Light in his loafers," "AC/DC" for a gay man

Rough Trade

To read beads...means to understand or see through someone

Drop Beads...accidentaly reveal one's homosexuality

Lace Curtains...an uncircumcised cock

Team Cream...an orgy

"One-Night Stand" has gone the way of trick.

One-night stand was hetero as well, though.

Nellie

Nellie is “trans femme” in 2019

"Sidewalk Sale"

Cruising the guys who are lingering outside the bar immediately after it closes for the night

Pee'ed. As in Gurl friend pee'ed up on that stage. (Did well, was flawless)

Bootie flu - hiv

Gay.com chat room.