SCRUFF launched a gay-slang dictionary app in 2014, which includes commonly used slang in the United States from the gay community. The 1964 legislative report Homosexuality and Citizenship in Florida contains an extensive appendix documenting and defining the homosexual slang in the United States at that time.

Although there are differences, contemporary British gay slang has adopted many Polari words. During the first seven decades of the 20th century, a specific form of Polari was developed by gay men and lesbians in urban centres of the United Kingdom within established LGBT communities.