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International Talk Like a Pirate Day

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International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is a parodic holiday invented in 1995 by John Baur ("Ol' Chumbucket") and Mark Summers ("Cap'n Slappy"), of the United States, who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate.[1] For example, an observer of this holiday would greet friends not with "Hello", but with "Ahoy, me hearty!" The date was selected because it was the birthday of Summers's ex-wife and consequently would be easy for him to remember.[1]

Background

File:TLAPD.jpg
"Cap'n Slappy" & "Ol' Chumbucket," founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day.

At first an inside joke between two friends, the holiday gained exposure when Baur and Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to the American syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry in 2002.[2] Barry liked the idea and promoted the day.[2] Growing media coverage of the holiday after Dave Barry's column has ensured that this event is now celebrated internationally.

Baur and Summers found new fame in the 2006 season premiere episode of ABC's Wife Swap, first aired September 18, 2006. They starred in the role of "a family of pirates" along with John's wife, Tori.[3]

Actor Robert Newton, who portrayed Long John Silver in the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island, is the patron saint of Talk Like A Pirate Day.[1] Newton was a native of Dorset, and it was his native West Country dialect, which he used in his portrayal of Long John Silver and Blackbeard, that has become the standard "pirate accent".[4] As the association of pirates with peg legs, parrots and treasure maps was popularized in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island (1883), the influence of Stevenson's book on parody pirate culture cannot be overstated.[5]

Examples of pirate sayings

File:Robert.Newton.ljs.gif
Patron Saint Robert Newton provides instruction.

Seamen in the days of sail spoke a language far apart from the norm. It was so full of technical jargon as to be nearly incomprehensible to a landsman. For example, few could follow these instructions:

Lift the skin up, and put into the bunt the slack of the clews (not too taut), the leech and foot-rope, and body of the sail; being careful not to let it get forward under or hang down abaft. Then haul your bunt well up on the yard, smoothing the skin and bringing it down well abaft, and make fast the bunt gasket round the mast, and the jigger, if there be one, to the tie.

— Richard Henry Dana, Jr., The Seaman's Manual (1844)

Even more baffling are some of the phrases used by sailors in the 17th century:

If the ship go before the wind, or as they term it, betwixt two sheets, then he who conds uses these terms to him at the helm: Starboard, larboard, the helm amidships... If the ship go by a wind, or a quarter winds, they say aloof, or keep your loof, or fall not off, wear no more, keep her to, touch the wind, have a care of the lee-latch. all these do imply the same in a manner, are to bid him at the helm to keep her near the wind.

— former pirate Sir Henry Mainwaring (see Harland (1984) p.177
Use nautical talk and you just might get your mouth washed out with soap.

Treasure Island

One of the most influential books on popular notions of pirates was Treasure Island, a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, from which sample quotes include:

  • "Bring me one noggin of rum, now, won't you, matey."[6]
  • "Avast, there!"
  • "Dead men don't bite."
  • "Shiver my timbers!" (often pronounced as "Shiver me timbers!")
  • "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest -- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" (see Dead Man's Chest)[7]
  • "There! That's what I think of ye. Before an hour's out, I'll stove in your old block house like a rum puncheon. Laugh, by thunder, laugh! Before an hour's out, ye'll laugh upon the other side. Them that die'll be the lucky ones."

The archetypal pirate grunt "Arrr!" (alternatively "Rrrr!" or "Yarrr!") first appeared in the classic 1950 Disney film Treasure Island, according to research by Mark Liberman.[8] His article cites linguistic research that may locate the roots of this phrase much earlier.

Peter Pan

Peter Pan, (1904) with Captain Hook and his pirate ship Jolly Roger, contains numerous fictional pirate sayings:

"Avast belay, yo ho, heave to,
A-pirating we go
And if we're parted by a shot
We're sure to meet below!"
"Yo ho, yo ho, the pirate life,
The flag o'skull and bones
A merry hour, a hempen rope,
And hey for Davy Jones."

Derivatives

  • Tom Smith has written and recorded the song "Talk Like a Pirate Day," the quasi-official anthem of the holiday.[10]
  • In the Nintendo DS version of The Sims 2, in-game characters celebrate "Talk Like A Pirate Day" on September 19th, in which a special quest is released, involving a pirate quiz.
  • On Neopet's Neoboards, during the holiday, filters automatically changed words like "see" to "spy" and "n00b" to "landlubber".[11]
  • The MMORPG Kingdom of Loathing celebrates Talk Like a Pirate Day, and a new item may drop in the game's pirate-themed zone, for that day only.
  • The RPG, AdventureQuest celebrates Talk Like A Pirate Day by your character going to meet Captain Rhubarb to take a 20 question quiz on Pirate Talk. If you get all 20 questions right, you get access to a special Pirate Shop with new things added each year. You may also access this event via Warlic's Magic Shop.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c The Original Talk Like A Pirate Day Web site, by John Baur and Mark Summers.
  2. ^ a b Dave Barry, "Arrrrr! Talk like a pirate—or prepare to be 'boarded'". 8 September 2002.
  3. ^ Wife Swap, from ABC Medianet.
  4. ^ Bonanos, Chrstopher (2007-06-05). "Did Pirates Really Say "Arrrr"? The origin of Hollywood's high-seas slang". Slate. Washington Post Newsweek Interactive Co. Retrieved 2007-09-16.
  5. ^ David Cordingly (1995). Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates. ISBN 0679425608
  6. ^ Excerpt from Treasure Island
  7. ^ Excerpt from Treasure Island
  8. ^ Mark Liberman, "R!?". Language log, 19 September 2005.
  9. ^ Open Letter to the Kansas School Board
  10. ^ * Talk Like A Pirate Day song (MP3), by Tom Smith
  11. ^ New Features on Neopets: 19th September
  12. ^ Day of the Ninja Site
  13. ^ GameSpot on Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004)

Further reading

  • Harland, John (1984). Seamanship in the Age of Sail. Provides a detailed account of the language used by seamen during the age of sail. ISBN 0-87021-955-3

External links

Support groups

Multimedia

Dedicated articles

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