As you may or may not be aware, September 19th celebrates "Talk Like A Pirate Day," and calls for people to, as the holiday name suggests, talk like a pirate.
It may be a surprise for many of you to know that the holiday has been celebrated for more than a decade. It all began in 1995, established in Albany, Oregon, by John Baur and Mark Summers, who both call themselves Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy respectively on September 19th of every year. The holiday had originally been a goofy, friends-only holiday, but received national attention when Pulitzer-Prize winning humor columnist Dave Barry mentioned them in a 2002 column. It slowly became an international holiday, with more people wanting in on the fun.
While not everybody will be too quick to switch their daily linguistic registers to Pirate, various commercial establishments are jumping into the bandwagon/ship: Krispy Kreme will be graciously doling out freebies in celebration for the holiday; a free glazed donut for anybody who comes up and talks in Pirate, and as an added bonus, you can walk away with a free dozen if you show up dressed like a pirate.
If a box of free donuts is motivation enough, the holiday has an official website that offers a helpful Pirate vocabulary guide, as well as games and merchandise.
For the reclusive, everybody can also enjoy the holiday without leaving the safety of their desks: you can go on Facebook and switch you language settings to Pirate. This can be achieved by moving your mouse over the right side of the News Feed and towards the five links underneath the sponsored ads, whereupon clicking "English (US)" a selection of languages will appear, with Pirate included. Click Pirate, and have your whole Facebook page in Pirate. Arr.
True Facts About Pirates
To the disappointment of many, modern depictions of pirates are not historically accurate: the pirates of old did not really use Pirate in everyday speech. However, British outlaws-most of whom made up the crews aboard pirate ships-had developed a slang that included nautical jargon (as they were, by-the-by, professional sailors) as well as the languages they often encountered on trade routes: French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch.
They were not even into booty-of the sparkling, golden kind that are usually buried in large chests and are the conquests of the greatest pirate stories. Pirates usually treasured food and medical supplies above hoards of gold, and from a practical standpoint-would you rather be stuck in the middle of an ocean with inedible gold, or with food and medicine to keep you alive? Think about it.
BUT if we were all really even concerned with historical accuracy, then we would give Disney a run for its money.
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