Arrr! Walk The Plank Matey! Pillage, Rum, And Eye Patches! International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Shiver me timbers! Ahoy geek lads! Appie International Talk Like A Pirate Day! This year marks the 10th year of this annual event! I’m re-posting my article from last year.

Pirate guys

Back in 1995, Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers and John “Ol’ Chumbucket” Baur (image above) created an annual event/holiday called the International Talk Like a Pirate Day every Sept 19. As the title suggests, it promotes that everyone should talk like a pirate for this day. Through the years it grew and escalated to epic proportions, and is now known worldwide.

From their press kit:

“September 19 – It’s Time Again To Talk Like a Pirate!

All around the world and even hundreds of miles above it, people celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day every September 19.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is the only holiday on the calendar that encourages people to babble like buccaneers for the sheer, anarchic fun of it. It’s been celebrated by millions of people on all seven continents – yes, even at the South Pole – and on the International Space Station!

The holiday was the brainchild (if that’s the right word) of John Baur and Mark Summers, two friends from Albany, Ore., who were playing racquetball when, for reasons that aren’t clear to either of them now, they started insulting each other in pirate jargon. They decided to start Talk Like a Pirate Day, and picked September 19th because it is Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday. The date was stuck in his head and he wasn’t doing anything with it anymore, so it would be easy to remember, Summers said…

Talking Like a Pirate – The Beginner’s Course

(Excerpt from “Pirattitude!” So You Wanna Be a Pirate? Here’s How!” by John “Ol’ Chumbucket” Baur and Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers, published in 2005 by New American Library. All rights reserved.)

“Aarr!” is one of what we call “the Five As.” We call them this because that’s the letter they begin with, and our crack mathematics team assures us that there are five of them. These exclamations are the glue that binds together pirate lingo. Even if you don’t know a bunghole from a broadside or a mizzenmast from a maidenhead, you can still give your conversation a little pirate panache by injecting these exclamations into yer landlubber lexicon.

Avast – Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, “Whoa! Get a load of that!” when a beautiful woman walks into the room. “Avast! Check out the bowsprit on that fine beauty!” you might say.

Ahoy – “Hello!” Any inference beyond “Hello!” is simply vocal inflection and has nothing to do with the real meaning of the word.

Aye – “Why, yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did.”

Aye aye – “I’ll get right on that, sir, as soon as my break is over.” We’ve never heard any similarly colorful expressions for “no,” perhaps because pirates were the type you didn’t want to say no to.

Arr – This one is often confused with arrgh, which is of course the sound you make when you sit on a belaying pin. “Arr!” can mean, variously, “yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is winning,” “My team is losing,” “I saw that television show, it sucked,” “I am here and alive” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of “Arrr!” It’s a little bit like the pirate version of “Oy,” that indispensable Yiddish word that has almost as many meanings as there are ways to pronounce it…”

You can check their Press Room for more information and details on this, HERE.

Ayyyy! Being geeks you know that aside from ninjas, aliens, robots, wizards, and superheroes, we all love pirates. With that said geekev.com supports and promotes the International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

You can check and like their Facebook page HERE.

You can visit their official site, for more information, how-to(s), games, pictures, merchandise, and more HERE.

Ayyyy! Spread d ward an shar d holiday matey!