How much of this can you understand?

[Viktor77]

I'm just discovering this old form of English slang called Polari used among gay men until about the 70s. I can't understand much of what they're saying and can only occasionally follow the conversation. So for others here who speak English, how much can you understand and how does that relate to where you're from? I'm especially curious for Brits here. How much of this slang is still current or at least familiar to someone who has never read up on Polari?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8yEH8TZUsk

Here's the script if interested.

[Salmoneus]

It's worth pointing out that this is actually the overlap of three different argots. First there's polari - which isn't just a gay language, it was also associated with sailors, actors, and travelling performers, and apparently is still used by some circus folk, though obviously in this case some of the meanings are more specific to gay men. Then there's cockney slang, much of it rhyming. Then there's just plain old period slang, which would have been generally known but has now been forgotten. And a few words and phrases that have entered the general language, like "khazi" for toilet and "the Khyber" as a euphemism for arse.
In terms of the polari proper, I know 'bona' and 'varda', but not much beyond that. It's possible that cockneys might recognise more, though.

[Vijay]

I have a very short written sample of Polari as well (with translations of all the Polari terms into plain English), but I don't think I could possibly understand anything else in Polari. I also have a diagram apparently indicating that Polari gets its terms from Cant(?) but know probably nothing else about it.

And here's the written text if you're curious:

"As feely homies, when we launched ourselves on the gay scene, Polari was all the rage. We would zhoosh our riahs, powder our eeks, climb into our bona new drag, don our batts and troll off to some bona bijou bar. In the bar, we could stand around polarying with our sisters, varda the bona cartes on the butch homie ajax who, if we fluttered our ogle riahs, might just troll over to offer a light."

And how these terms are translated in the source I got this from:

feely homies = young men
zhoosh = fix
riahs = hair
eeks = faces
bona = nice
drag = clothes
batts = shoes
troll = wander
bijou = small
polarying = chatting
sisters = gay acquaintances
varda = look at
cartes = genitals
butch = 'male'
homie = man
ajax = nearby
ogle riahs = eyelashes

[Frislander]

It's relatively understandable for me, speaking as a UK-native.

[Viktor77]

It's worth pointing out that this is actually the overlap of three different argots. First there's polari - which isn't just a gay language, it was also associated with sailors, actors, and travelling performers, and apparently is still used by some circus folk, though obviously in this case some of the meanings are more specific to gay men. Then there's cockney slang, much of it rhyming. Then there's just plain old period slang, which would have been generally known but has now been forgotten. And a few words and phrases that have entered the general language, like "khazi" for toilet and "the Khyber" as a euphemism for arse.
In terms of the polari proper, I know 'bona' and 'varda', but not much beyond that. It's possible that cockneys might recognise more, though.

Oh yes, I'm fully aware of that, but the video was to focus on Polari. I do want to mention one thing, from the research I've done it seems there's no reason to doubt Polari was basically a gay language, because when you consider sailors, actors, traveling performers, I mean there's one thing almost all of those have in common, they were most likely gay themselves back then when people lived in these communities to escape the world where they had to hide themselves.

To Vijay, thanks for the paragraph. The script I posted also takes you through each word and by the end you can manage to understand it. But it was surprising, the extent of Romani, even Frank influence. The Italian and French influence makes sense on the other hand.

Frislander, what made it relatively easy to understand? Your age (did you grow up with Round the Horne's Julian and Sandy)? Or are you a Londoner, do you know Cockney?)

[Salmoneus]

It's worth pointing out that this is actually the overlap of three different argots. First there's polari - which isn't just a gay language, it was also associated with sailors, actors, and travelling performers, and apparently is still used by some circus folk, though obviously in this case some of the meanings are more specific to gay men. Then there's cockney slang, much of it rhyming. Then there's just plain old period slang, which would have been generally known but has now been forgotten. And a few words and phrases that have entered the general language, like "khazi" for toilet and "the Khyber" as a euphemism for arse.
In terms of the polari proper, I know 'bona' and 'varda', but not much beyond that. It's possible that cockneys might recognise more, though.

Oh yes, I'm fully aware of that, but the video was to focus on Polari. I do want to mention one thing, from the research I've done it seems there's no reason to doubt Polari was basically a gay language, because when you consider sailors, actors, traveling performers, I mean there's one thing almost all of those have in common, they were most likely gay themselves

....and there you go off into fantasy land.
I mean... dear lord.
Do you know anything about the socioeconomic history of maritime employment in the UK? Hint: there are entire cities where naval employment was expected. Do you know anything about the history of travellling peoples in the UK? Hint: they were/are not just people who enjoyed going for long walks, they were/are entire ethnicities (which is why polari borrows from both romani and shelta). Do you know anything about... OK, so admittedly a lot of actors are gay, relatively speaking. But it's really not like it's all of them! It's not like no straight guy has ever liked Shakespeare!

[Frislander]

Frislander, what made it relatively easy to understand? Your age (did you grow up with Round the Horne's Julian and Sandy)? Or are you a Londoner, do you know Cockney?)

I'm actually Northern but the way the media is set up in this country you gain at least a rudimentary working knowledge of Cockney sooner or later. And some of the words are just standard Britishisms like 'scarper' and 'naff', 'plates' comss from rhyming slang 'plates of meat'='feet', and 'schade' is very obviously derived from the German.

[mèþru]

I don't really understand much slang/argot in any language, but I managed to understand a few sentences.