General
so
What does so mean?
A whisper-quiet way of asking if a man is gay back when saying it outright could get you arrested. 'Is he so?' meant 'is he one of us?' The beauty of it: 'so' is the most innocent word in English, so the question slid right past anyone not in the know. Pure coded survival slang.
"She leaned in and murmured, 'The new barman, darling, is he so?'"
Origin
Dated British gay slang / Polari, used pre-decriminalisation as a deniable euphemism. Sits alongside 'musical' and 'that way inclined'.
Frequently asked questions
What does "so" mean in Polari?
In Polari, "so" means homosexual, as in the coded question "Is he so?"
How do you use "so" in a sentence?
"She leaned in and asked quietly, 'Is he so?'"
Where does "so" come from?
It comes from Polari, the coded slang used by gay men and theatre folk in Britain, especially in the mid-20th century.
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