Arrr, it be International Talk Like a Pirate Day! That be a rollickin good holiday me thinks!
Before we go any further, there's something we need to be clear about. Pirates were and are bad people. Really reprehensible. Even the most casual exploration of the history of pirates (and believe us, casual is an accurate description of our research) leaves you hip deep in blood and barbarity. We recognize this, all right? We aren't for one minute suggesting that real, honest-to-God pirates were in any way, shape or form worth emulating.
So what is it exactly that we're celebrating here, if not pirates? What, you're wondering, is the point?
We're going to be painfully honest here, perhaps fatally so.
The point is, there is no point.
And if ye would like to spy the original site for Talk Like a Pirate Day go right ahead with ye. They have a translator and such for the landlubbers among ye. But keep ye in mind that the language be not altogether upstandin.
Ye can also spy the official British HQ site.
Now a wee bit o vocabulary to help ye be piratin on this fine day.
Addled – Insane or Foolish
Ahoy – hello
Avast – hey, or hold fast or stop
Barker – pistol
Belay – stop that or shut up
Bilge – foolish talk
Booty – any form of loot
Brethren of the Coast – The name Pirates used for themselves
Buccaneer – A general term for Caribbean pirates
Cackle fruit – chicken eggs
Cat-o’-nine-tails – a whip with many lashes and used for flogging
Corsair – French name for Pirate
Dance the hempen jig – to hang or be hanged
Davy Jones’ Locker – a place at the bottom of the sea reserved for pirates (dead)
Dead man’s chest – coffin
Feed the fish – to be thrown into the sea dead or alive
Freebooter – another name for pirate
Grog – rum or any other kind of alcohol
Gully – a knife or dagger
Handsomely – quickly or hurry it up
Jack Ketch – the hangman, to “dance the Jack Ketch” meant “to hang”
Jolly Roger – the pirates’ skull and crossbones flag
Kiss the gunners daughter – to be bent over one of the ships cannons and flogged
Oggin – the sea
On the account – the pirate life
Poxy, Poxed – diseased
Rope’s end – another term for flogging
Sea Dog – an experienced seaman
Sea Rat – another name for pirate
Shiver me timbers – an expression of surprise, deriving from a sudden blow to the ship’s planking, probably from a cannonball
Swab – an ordinary seaman who mopped the deck
Sweet trade – another name for piracy
Walk the plank – The short walk to a watery grave
Well Shiver me Timbers, Kay-O! You be quite creative there. This months Your Story contest in Writers Digest is to write 750 story about receiving a box with a pirate-like eyepatch and a note, with no return address....Hmmmm. You've got me thinking!
ReplyDeleteAhoy, Robbie, me fine hearty!
ReplyDeleteit be that we used the prompt ye be talkin about in the most fabulous meetin ye missed while ye were lollygaggin about. We be practicin our beginnins we be. Not whole stories mind ye, just beginnins.
Whenever Bethany comes over, we like to send her home with a booty bag. My SIL still laughs at this because at first he wasn't sure what a booty bag was. He was thinking of a booty as the backside, if you know what I mean.
ReplyDeleteShe is a bibliofile (means lover of books) and so we load her down with tons of reading material.
Well, I swan! Is that appropriate :)
ReplyDeleteShiver me timbers! President Busssh allow the government to buy AIG, we be all SOCIALISTS now, Aaarg.
ReplyDeletefun!
ReplyDeleteFun post. Maybe we all have a little pirate in us. At least you do!
ReplyDeleteBut why is the rum all gone??
ReplyDeleteY'all make me smile.
ReplyDelete