Translation, etc.

[sabinetzin]

So someone(s) did actually ask for a translation of Cant. IMHO it's not actually necessary to know the vocabulary to get the gist of the story, but here we go anyway.

"Give us a little drink [bijou buvare], my love," Charles says, holding out one of the tumblers from the set he keeps on his credenza; Erik stops, standing in the shadows outside the door, because watching and listening is suddenly more interesting than joining them.

She laughs. "If you're talking like that, then you've had enough," she says, but she takes it from him, pouring a little liquor into it.

"I have to be so serious all the time," he complains. "I just want to gossip [cackle]."

"And you don't want anybody to hear," she says.

"I barely speak Polari [cant the polari], and I don't speak it well [cant bene]," he tells her, "and there are no men [nanti omi] in my house [latty] who could speak it [cant] at all." He sighs. "Sometimes I wish there were."

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Something tells me you're not looking for conversation [palaver]."

"You always understand well [savvy bene], Raven," he says, pointing at her with his glass. "But around here [ajax] we've got the chickens* and we've got-" He waves a hand. "The outsider [gajo]."

"Yeah," she says, giving Charles a searching look. "I'm starting to get the impression that you're attracted to [bonar for] him." Charles puts his hand over his face in lieu of responding. "Do you think he's gay [so]?"

He laughs. "Who cares? Good [Bona] trade**, my darling," he tells her, sinking down into his chair. "Very good [Bonaroo]. You don't understand [nanti savvy] the kind of sex [charver]-"

Raven holds up her hands. "I don't understand [savvy] it at all, and I would really like to keep it that way."

"Fabulous man [Fantabulosa omi]," he says. "And he'll run off [scarper]," he adds, deflating. "And I'll never see [nanti varda] him again."

"Okay, listen [Aunt Nell]," she says, standing up, "I can do the cant, or I can do maudlin, but I can't do both at the same time, so up now, to your bed [letty]." She pulls him out of his chair, shuffling him towards the door. "Good night. [Boner nochy]"

"You take such good care of me," he says, kissing her hair, and Erik slips out and up the stairs before they can see him.

It's all very interesting.

*Shit, this is the word I would use. Young/underage men. Like, what you are before you're old or self-aware enough to be a twink. What chickenhawks feed on. I keep getting older but they stay the same age, sort of thing.

**A dude you would pick up for sex, usually a straight dude. As in "rough trade."

Vital information for your everyday life.