talk like a pirate day

Today is "International Talk Like A Pirate Day", and some in Longview were participating in the quirky observance. The obscure holiday is set every September 19th to glorify the age of Buccaneers. But instead of the high seas, this holiday was forged in Cleveland by 2 businessmen looking to add some silliness to life.

"Being a pirates tough I can't tell you why" said one Pine Tree Resident.

"Shiver ya'lls timbers" said Longview businesswoman Caroline Stringer.

The "Jack Sparrow" character from Pirates of the Caribbean, has inspired a resurgence in pirate talk.

"Well it's kind of a 16th -17th century version of rap" said one observer.

Everyone is encouraged to talk Pirate, and some had a distinct East Texas twang.

"Yo ho ho and bottle of rum, ya'll" said one Longview resident.

Pirate costumes are now the top sellers at places like Parties Plus.

"We have a had a resurgence because of Pirates of the Caribbean probably" said Stringer.

And if you'd like more information, we've set up a link on International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Just Click on "Know More On 7" to learn everything you need to know about this day.

Ahoy, for those of you that didn't know, yesterday was International Talk like a Pirate Day. Feeling a little confused? Don't worry, so were we. Apparently, here at King's, we were oblivious to the fact that every year on September 19 you are suppose to speak like a pirate and apparently quote Pirates of the Caribbean lines at every opportune moment.


Sound a little crazy? Perhaps, but it all started on June 6, 1995 when two buddies, John Baur and Mark Summers, were playing a fun and jovial game of racquetball. Story has it that the two were yelling words of encouragement back and forth when one of them supposedly muttered "Arr!" while stretching to make a difficult return of the ball. What ensued was a series of pirate rants for the remainder of the game.


After the match was over the two agreed that the use of pirate lingo actually made for a more enjoyable and exciting game. Right then and there a decision was made that a new national holiday was warranted, and thus, Talk Like a Pirate Day was born. To make a long story short, they eventually sent an e-mail to a popular syndicated columnist and the rest is history.


As for the growing popularity of such a holiday here on the King's campus, that honor goes to science professor Dr. Derrick Boucher. Boucher claims he originally heard of the holiday several years back while listening to a program on National Public Radio. One day while eating lunch with fellow colleague Dr. Joel Shuman, the two chatted about how such a holiday would be a fun thing to encourage. So for the past few years, Dr. Boucher has recognized the holiday and encourages colleagues and students alike to participate by sending out a campus e-mail.

It's nothing major (Dr. Boucher does not walk into his classrooms talking like Captain Jack Sparrow), but he does drop the occasional pirate line on the students.


"Yesterday I walked into class and greeted the students by saying 'Avast! The Captain's aboard!' Half the class knew why I was talking like a pirate and the other half looked at me like I was crazy," said Boucher. "We had a quiz, and when the students finished taking it, a few of them were talking among themselves when I said 'Scupper that talk.' They had no idea what I was saying but they stopped talking."


Dr. Boucher says the holiday has become somewhat of an inside joke and he enjoys watching the students' reaction. In fact, a few years back, the Campus Activities office got word of the holiday and held a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean in the Burke Auditorium. Turnout was good, and several students dressed up in pirate costumes.


"I think affecting an attitude or character and accent has always been fun to me," Boucher remarked. "My hope is that the students will at least go back and reference my e-mail."

Salt Lake City police say two men dueled with machetes in a fight that ended with one person hogtied.
Early Wednesday, the two men were drinking in the 1300 South block of 1200 West when an argument erupted. Fists where thrown and one man picked up a machete, police said.
The second man also retrieved a machete, according to police, and they began dueling with the weapons.
The machete duel ended without injury, police said, and one of the men began chasing the other down the street.
The pursuer tackled the other man at Emery Street and California Avenue and hogtied him before police arrived about 5 a.m.



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 haarrty!" The date was selected because it was the birthday of Summers' ex-wife and consequently would be easy for him to remember.[1]Background

"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 John Baur and Mark Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to the American syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry in 2002.[2] Dave 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. Although it is harmless, the day is very much a money making exercise. For example, Baur and Summers use it to sell books and T shirts on their website related to the theme.

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.

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."[3] 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.[4]


[edit] Examples of pirate sayings

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.
[edit] 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."[5]
"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!"[6]
"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.[7] His article cites linguistic research that may locate the roots of this phrase much earlier.


[edit] Derivatives
The holiday is of particular importance to Pastafarians (those who follow the teachings of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) who consider pirates to be absolute divine beings and the original Pastafarians.[8]
Tom Smith has written and recorded the song "Talk Like a Pirate Day," the quasi-official anthem of the holiday.[9]
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 Neopets's Neoboards, during the holiday, filters automatically changed words like "see" to "spy" and "n00b" to "landlubber."[10]
The virtual pet game Psypets also uses a forum filter, as well as changing in game dialog, and may also have pirate updates.
This holiday inspired the creation of the Day of the Ninja in 2003.[11]
In Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004), narration and character dialogue is altered to honor "Talk Like A Pirate Day" if the system's date is set to September 19.[12]
The multiplayer role-playing game 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 role-playing game 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.
Canadian sketch comedy troupe LoadingReadyRun produced an educational video on How to Talk Like a Pirate in honor of the day.
Brian Phillips and Andy Triboletti have developed a Pirates application (game and forums for talking like a Pirate) for Facebook, and have offered a pirate t-shirt contest in honour of the International Talk Like a Pirate Day! [1]

[edit] See also