Mark your calendars - and start practicing!

[olesma]

September 19th is a day you should mark on your calendars. Why? Because it is the official international
Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Seriously - how can you not be excited about this? There is so much potential here. Just add a nice "Arrrr" at the end of a sentance and a stout "me hearties" at the end. What could be easier?

For example:

"I went to see the new movie, it was rated AARRRR!"
or
"I'll have a quarter pounder with cheese, me hearty!"

I suggest we all post suggestions for fool-proof methods and sublime examples of phrases that can only be enhanced by talking like a pirate.

"I did not have sex with that woman, me hearties!"

Have at it - Me hearties!

P.S.: Don't forget to look for the Pirate Pick-up lines on the site.

[Snick33]

Last year I called Susan a Wench, arrrrghhhhh!!!!!!!

[ROGER]

In response to olesma's reply:

Dude, you gotta find a hobby.

[Snick33]

"Dude, you gotta find a hobby."

No, I've gone through all the old movies and that is definitely not Pirate Lingo. I think what you meant to say was:

"Aarrghh Matey, have you tried scrimshaw yet?"

[sherileeaz]

Anyone see Pirates of the Carribean? Good movie. Love the monkey! Johnny Depp is good in it, steals the show. Good entertainment.

I don't know if I can talk like a pirate, I know I can talk like a valley girl, geesh let me try:

"Like Arrrhhhhh matties, totally avast!" ... ummm never mind! lol

Sherileeaz

[mtoomeyaz]

In response to olesma's reply:

Dude, you gotta find a hobby.

That's, me hearty, You gotta find a hobby. Arrrgh!!!

[olesma]

Dude, you gotta find a hobby.

Arrr...a hobby says ye...don't 'spose you'd consider pilagin' and lootin' hobbies, eh, me hearty?

Aarrghh Matey, have you tried scrimshaw yet?

Now there's a man after me own heart...course, I normally don't travel that far to the east....

I'll be looking for lots of posts in Pirate lingo on the 19th.

Me hearties.

[Daryl]

ARRRG! tis good to see my matey Olesma back at it!

[hippiepunkpirate]

As if my username didn't say enough....

[rushthezeppelin]

OMG I never saw this thread. This is totally one of my favorite days of the year. I've managed to hone down my scurvy dog voice quite well : D

[hippiepunkpirate]

Mine's aight. It gets rusty when you only used it once a year!

[rushthezeppelin]

I use mine on a near daily basis.....usually when I'm having me a brew. Always works best with a bit of alcohol : P

[JimmyLyding]

I try to use the phrase "keel-haul" at least once a day

[desert spirit]

Ok, this is a guy thing, right?

[te_wa]

what ye sayin me mighty wench, yar hath been 'just one of the maties' once in ye while, yar?

[desert spirit]

Umm ... thanks but not right now. I have a headache.

[te_wa]

The nursery rhyme "Six a Song of Sixpence" was a coded message that evolved over several years' times and was used by confederates of the notorious pirate Blackbeard to recruit crew members for his prize-hunting expeditions. Like many other messages passed down to us over hundreds of years by oral tradition, there is no one "official" version, nor is there a "correct" interpretation for any particular variant. In general, however, the most common form of this rhyme bore these veiled meanings:

"Sing a song of sixpence / A pocket full of rye"
Blackbeard's standard payment of sixpence a day was considered good money in the 1700s, especially since most pirate vessels did not pay a salary: the crew only received a share of the spoils if they were successful in capturing prizes (and many a pirate ship had to return to port empty-handed after spending several fruitless months at sea). As well, his crew was promised a pocket (a leather bag somewhat like an early canteen which held about a liter) full of rye (whiskey) per day. Not bad, considering that alcohol was the average sailor's raison d'etre.

"Four and twenty blackbirds / Baked in a pie"
As Henry Betts points out in his book on the origins and history of nursery rhymes, "It was a favourite trick in the sixteenth century to conceal all sorts of surprises in a pie." Buccaneers, too, were fond of surprises, and one of Blackbeard's favorite ruses to lure a ship within boarding range was to make his own vessel (or crew) appear to be in distress, typically by pretending to have been dismasted in a storm or to have sprung a leak below the waterline. Passing ships — both honest sailors wanting to help and other pirates looking for an easy catch — would sail in close to offer assistance, whereupon a crew of two dozen heavily-armed seamen dressed in black would board the other vessel (via a boat in darkness or fog, or by simply jumping into the other ship when it came alongside if no other means of surprise attack was possible) to quickly kill or disable as many crew members as possible. Thus the four and twenty "blackbirds" (i.e., Blackbeard's crewmen) "baked in a pie" (i.e., concealed in anticipation of springing a trap).

"When the pie was opened / The birds began to sing"
This follows from the previous line. Once the victim's ship was lured in for the kill, the "blackbirds" came out of hiding and attacked with a fearsome din.

"Was that not a tasty dish / To set before a king?"
This line is commonly misinterpreted. The King is not a reference to any real king, but rather to Blackbeard himself, the king of pirates. And the tasty dish is the plundered ship that was so easily captured.

"The King was in his counting house / Counting out his money"
Again, the King is Blackbeard (no real king would take on such a mean task as counting money). This line of the message signals that Blackbeard had the cash on hand to pay a crew on salary rather than strictly on divided spoils.

"The Queen was in the parlor / Eating bread and honey"
Blackbeard's main vessel was a French merchant ship named "Le Concorde de Nantes" that was jointly captured by Blackbeard and Captain Hornigold in the Grenadines in November of 1717. Upon his retirement from pirating, Hornigold presented the ship to Blackbeard, who renamed it "The Queen Anne's Revenge". Thus the "Queen" referred to here is Blackbeard's ship, and "eating bread and honey" meant that it was in port taking on supplies in preparation for a cruise.

"The Maid was in the garden / Hanging out the clothes"
The use of the word "maid" indicated that the location/route of one or more prize ships was known, and they were going to be specific targets of the upcoming cruise (this greatly enhancing the probability of the crew's collecting prize money). The waters around the Carolinas down to the Caribbean were referred to as the garden, as this was an area where pirates would often cruise for easy pickings. "Hanging out the clothes" meant the targeted ship was already at sea or just about to leave port (thus its sails — or "clothes" — have been hung).

"When down came a blackbird / And snapped off her nose!"
There is some scholarly debate in literary and maritime circles as to whether the last part was originally "and snapped off her nose" or "and snapped off a rose." Either way, the passage is taken to be a Blackbeard's bragging about his plans to swoop in and have his way with the targeted ship.

So, next time you hear this innocent children's song, remember that it was originally recited in taverns by drunken, bloodthirsty buccaneers as a code to recruit other pirates for their next murderous voyage. Yar!

*of course, none of this is true. Just an overactive imagination from one pirate to another. Yar!

[azbackpackr]

I have a headache, too! ;)

I actually did know that about nursery rhymes. Also, did you know that Alice in Wonderland was written as a political satire? I think we are safe with Winnie the Pooh and The Secret Garden, however--they are actual British children's books. (Not talking about Disney's Winnie the Pooh here. I loathe Disney. Did you know that Walt Disney was a Fascist, and admired Hitler? He also managed to dumb-down and ruin almost every children's classic ever written. Don't get me started...)

I used to memorize a lot of old cowboy songs with 20 verses, such as "Little Joe the Wrangler." Similar hobby to people who like pirate stuff, I suspect. I got over it, though.

[PaleoRob]

If ye like using ye buccaneer tongue and be into such newfangled music such as hip-hop and rap, ye should be checking out those scurvy minstrels, "Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew." As me hearties say, they be the only rap crew with buccaneer technique. Adult language, so ye wee tots and those landlubbers with sensitive ears should belay ordering. Check ye onto iTunes and other outlets - tis just the thing to get a Pirate Party kicked off with. Also ye can search that scurvy YouTube for some of their videos. Tis a thing not fer everyone - takes a special kind.

[Jeffshadows]

"Yar, Billy...have ye ever been to sea, lad?"
"No, Captain Hindgrinder..."
"Yar, well then let me show ye below, matey...

You can imagine where it goes from there...