International Talk Likea Pirate Day

EditHint: move to TheAdjunct

Strike while it's hot ye happy lads and lasses, it be that time again! Time to run our true colours up the flag, chug the black strap like it were mothers' milk, fire all our cannons into the nearest broadside, and quote our mizzen mates as they jaw it up on InternationalTalkLikeaPirateDay!

I ThankYou, matey! September 19 fer me!

Did you know? ThereIsNothingPerlCannotDo, including being optimized for pirate use. See: http://search.cpan.org/dist/Acme-Lingua-Pirate-Perl/ -- EarleMartin 

 #!/usr/bin/perl -w
 use Acme::Lingua::Pirate::Perl;


 Ahoy bucko!
 my @pieces_of_eight = qw(avast ye scurvy swab!); Yarrrrrr.
 unless (steal @pieces_of_eight be 'avast') {
   capsize her "Arrrr, we be hit below the waterline!\n";
 }
 sound off "Type something, ye bilge rat! "; $_ = <>; chomp;
 HARR!
 cry "Ye entered 'the gold'!\n"; Yo ho ho!
 sail off;
 poop deck:
 Bring us more rum, wench!
See also: PerliGata

Me question for the fine "scowlers" be, who came up with this pirate parlance? Our brethren of old on the salty sea? Hollywood? RobertLouisStevenson?? -- ElizabethWiethoff

Arr, Eliz, like freedom it runs in the blood.

Talk Like a Pirate Day was invented in 1995 by John Baur ("Ol' Chum Bucket") and Mark Summers ("Cap'n Slappy"). DaveBarry popularized it in 2002.

What I mean is, is this the way pirates really talked, or is this a literary invention? -- Eliz

The West Country accent is probably most identified in AmericanEnglish as "pirate speech" -- cartoon-like "Ooh arr, me 'earties! Sploice the mainbrace!" talk is very similar. This may be a result of the strong seafaring and fisherman tradition of the West Country, both legal and outlaw. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) was a native of Bristol, and privateer and English hero Sir Francis Drake hailed from Tavistock in Devon. It has also been suggested that Westcountryman Robert Newton's performance in the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island may have influenced people's preconceptions of what accent a pirate "should" have. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Country_dialects

So blame Hollywood! See also: http://www.flyinglab.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-5454.html for more on the vocab itself. -- EarleMartin In particular, the actor who played Long John Silver in the 1950s Disney adaptation of Treasure Island spoke that way, and so it came to be identified as "how pirates talk". Arrrr, mateys, that be how it is.

I blame Hollywood for a lot of things. Indeed, those in the know blame Hollywood for "circling the wagons" in the American Old West, but that's another subject. Yes, I can imagine the pirate accent is a legitimate English accent. Yet I can't help wondering who comes up with expressions like "Shiver me timbers!" The flyinglab forum is informative. Thanks. -- Eliz

Cowboy: Injuns! Draw the wagons up into a circle!
First Indian: Why do you always do that?
Cowboy: We get better reception that way.

-- FiresignTheatre

I want to talk like this guy:

Damn my blood... I scorn to do any one a Mischief, when it is not for my Advantage... Tho', damn ye, you are a sneaking Puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by Laws which rich Men have made for their own Security, for the cowardly Whelps have not the Courage otherwise to defend what they get by their Knavery; but damnn ye altogether: Damn them for a Pack of crafty Rascals, and you, who serve them, for a Parcel of hen-hearted Numskulls. They vilify us, the Scoundrels do, when there is only this Difference, they rob the Poor under the cover of Law, forsooth, and we plunder the Rich under Protection of our own Courage; had you not better make One of us, than sneak after the Arses of those Villains for Employment?...

I am a free Prince, and I have as much Authority to make War on the whole World, as he who has a hundred Sail of Ships at Sea and an Army of 100,000 Men in the Field; and this my Conscience tells me; but there is no arguing with such snivelling Puppies, who allow Superiors to kick them about Deck at Pleasure; and pin their faith upon a Pimp of a Parson; a Squab, who neither neither practices nor believes what he puts upon the chuckle-headed Fools he preaches to.

-- Captain Sam Bellamy as rendered by DanielDefoe? about 200 years Before Disney (BD).

Since this wiki is in PortlandOregon, and since this is InternationalTalkLikeaPirateDay, a shameless plug for the Portland's own Captain Bogg and Salty, the greatest pirate band in the world: http://www.eatalime.com

I'm serious. :)

Arrrr! Real pirates do not partake in Flash.

[I bought a Captain Bogg and Salty CD last month, not from knowing they were the greatest, but simply because they were one of the only pirate music offerings. :-) ]

But when is Talk Like An International Pirate Day?

September 19th. I even heard a radio spot using pirate talk for no apparent reason, so it seems to be catching on beyond the BlogoSphere...

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, right? How about "Oh, no no no! I am assuring you, this is being a legitimate copy of Windows!" -- DavidBrady

SeptemberZeroSix

CategoryTooSilly, CategoryWhimsy

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