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Ahoy Mates, It's National Talk Like A Pirate Day!
The Miami Herald ^ | Aug 31, 2003 | Dave Barry

Posted on 09/19/2003 6:44:48 AM PDT by MalcolmS

..snip..

In closing, here's an:

IMPORTANT REMINDER -- Mark your calendar with a big ''X'' on Sept. 19, which is the second annual National Talk Like A Pirate Day. This is the day when everybody is supposed to talk like a pirate for very solid reasons (see www.talklikeapirate.com).

Last year, the first National Talk Like a Pirate Day was a huge success, as measured by the number of messages on my answering machine consisting entirely of people going ''Arrrrr.'' So if you're feeling depressed -- if you think the world is in terrible shape, and one person like yourself can't make a difference -- remember this: You're right. So you might as well talk like a pirate. It's easy! For example, when you answer the phone, instead of ''Hello,'' you say ''Ahoy!''

From Dave Barry, Sept 8, 2002

Arrrrr! Talk like a pirate -- or prepare to be boarded DAVE BARRY

Every now and then, some visionary individuals come along with a concept that is so original and so revolutionary that your immediate reaction is: ``Those individuals should be on medication.''

Today I want to tell you about two such people, John Baur and Mark Summers, who have come up with a concept that is going to make you kick yourself for not thinking of it first: Talk Like a Pirate Day. As the name suggests, this is a day on which everybody would talk like a pirate. Is that a great idea, or what? There are so many practical benefits that I can't even begin to list them all.

Baur and Summers came up with this idea a few years ago. They were playing racquetball, and, as so often happens, they began talking like pirates. And then it struck them: Why not have a day when EVERYBODY talks like a pirate? They decided that the logical day would be Sept. 19, because that -- as you are no doubt aware -- is Summers' ex-wife's birthday.

Since then, Baur and Summers have made a near-superhuman effort to promote Talk Like a Pirate Day. As Baur puts it: ``We've talked like pirates, and encouraged our several friends to, every Sept. 19, except for a couple where we forgot.''

And yet, incredibly, despite this well-orchestrated campaign, the nation has turned a deaf shoulder to Talk Like a Pirate Day. In desperation, Baur and Summers turned to me for help. As an influential newspaper columnist, I have the power to ''make or break'' a national day. You may recall that almost nobody celebrated Thanksgiving until I began writing about it in the 1970s.

I have given Baur's and Summers' idea serious thought, looking for ways to improve it. One variation I considered was Talk Like a Member of the Lollipop Guild Day, on which everybody would talk like the three Munchkins in the film version of The Wizard of Oz who welcome Dorothy to Munchkin Land by singing with one corner of their mouths drooping down, as though they have large invisible dental suction devices hanging from their lips. But I realized that would be stupid.

So I have decided to throw my full support behind Talk Like a Pirate Day, to be observed this Sept. 19. To help promote this important cause, I have decided to seek the endorsement of famous celebrities, and I am pleased to report that, as of today, Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, Oprah Winfrey, the Osbournes, Tiger Woods, Ted Koppel, the Sopranos, Puff Doody and the late Elvis Presley are all people who I hope will read this column and become big supporters. I see no need to recruit President Bush, because he already talks like a pirate, as we can see from this transcript of a recent White House press conference:

REPORTER: Could you please explain either your foreign or your domestic policy?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Arrrrr.

To prepare for Talk Like a Pirate Day, you should practice incorporating pirate terminology into your everyday speech. For example, let's consider a typical conversation between two co-workers in a business office:

BOB: Hi. Mary.

MARY: Hi, Bob. Have you had a chance to look at the Fennerman contract?

BOB: Yes, and I have some suggestions.

MARY: OK, I'll review them.

Now let's see how this same conversation would sound on Talk Like a Pirate Day:

BOB: Avast, me beauty.

MARY: Avast, Bob. Is that a yardarm in your doubloons, or are you just glad to see me?

BOB: You are giving me the desire to haul some keel.

MARY: Arrrrr.

As you can see, talking like a pirate will infuse your everyday conversations with romance and danger. So join the movement! On Sept. 19, do not answer the phone with ''hello.'' Answer the phone with ''Ahoy me hearty!'' If the caller objects that he is not a hearty, inform him that he is a scurvy dog (or, if the caller is female, a scurvy female dog) who will be walking the plank off the poop deck and winding up in Davy Jones' locker, sleeping with the fishes. No, wait, that would be Talk Like a Pirate in The Godfather Day, which is another variation I considered (``I'm gonna make him an offer that will shiver his timbers'').

But the point is, this is a great idea, and you, me bucko, should be part of it. Join us on Sept. 19. You HAVE the buckles, darn it: Don't be afraid to swash them! Let's make this into a grass-roots movement that sweeps the nation, like campaign-finance reform, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I truly think this idea could bring us, as a nation, closer together.

But not TOO much closer. Some of us will have swords.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News
KEYWORDS: arrgh; davebarry; pirates; yohohonabottlearum
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To: Charles Martel
Avast! There be Pirate Lore here!! Prepare to be boarded by an unconventional pirate. Arrrrr, y'all! Pirate and Patriot///"He left a corsair’s name to other times, Linked one virtue to a thousand crimes."-- Lord Byron...and often painted in splashes of color, he lives on in the role of auspicious hero.///Source - Jean Lafitte "The Corsair" by E.H. Suydam

good read...Thanks

161 posted on 09/19/2003 3:12:41 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: pbear8
Yes, but how many of you pirate wannabes actually own a boat?

define...boat...

I have access to a canoe/lifejackets/paddles...and Boy scout merit badge in rowing...where is that? :)

162 posted on 09/19/2003 3:18:40 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: skinkinthegrass
>>>I have access to a canoe/lifejackets/paddles...and Boy scout merit badge in rowing...where is that? :) <<<


Arrrr! I believe thats qualifies ye for boarding parrrrty duty!

163 posted on 09/19/2003 3:20:02 PM PDT by MalcolmS (Post Like A Pirate Day: Sept 19. Arrrr Matey!)
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To: MalcolmS

The man who put the ARRR!! in ARRR!!



164 posted on 09/19/2003 3:22:17 PM PDT by Merdoug
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To: Charles Martel
Aye, here be some pirates with a different "parrot" connection:

Time Bandit?... :))

165 posted on 09/19/2003 3:30:07 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: Merdoug
Arrrr! You'd better be givin us the yarn behind that there picture matey, or it's the plank for you!
166 posted on 09/19/2003 3:32:24 PM PDT by MalcolmS (Post Like A Pirate Day: Sept 19. Arrrr Matey!)
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To: skinkinthegrass
>>>Aye, here be some pirates with a different "parrot" connection:
Time Bandit?... :)) <<<

Belay that! Them Time Bandit knaves were short little lubbers. Mayhap that be the work of the Crewe of the Python and Cap'n Black John Cleese.
167 posted on 09/19/2003 3:34:25 PM PDT by MalcolmS (Post Like A Pirate Day: Sept 19. Arrrr Matey!)
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To: MalcolmS
I be confessing, sor, that I haint been toeing the line as well as maybe I ought when postin this day. In me defense, I been posting mostly on threads dealing with Godly questions like. Don't seem to be able to work up no "ARRRS" or "Tie that scurvy dog to the yardarm" yells when speaking of the holy One. Ev'n us pirates gots to has our limits, ye unerstan?

Now, give me a good accountant to bash and I'll give him what fer. Lessen he be a charted accountant. Ye haint talking about them, be ye? They's worsen us!!! Back to Port Royal. I needs to restock me rum supplies!

168 posted on 09/19/2003 3:37:19 PM PDT by Phsstpok
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To: MalcolmS
Arrrr! I believe thats qualifies ye for boarding parrrrty duty!

AYE, Capn't....I need to get a GPS watch...where's Capt. Crunch?... :)

169 posted on 09/19/2003 3:37:30 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: MalcolmS
Arrrr! I believe thats qualifies ye for boarding parrrrty duty!

AYE, Capn't....I need to get a GPS watch...where's FP Capt. Crunch?... :)

170 posted on 09/19/2003 3:39:11 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: MalcolmS
For those of ya scurvy bastiches that can book-lern:


Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life among the Pirates
by David Cordingly


Look inside this book
List Price: $14.00
Price: $11.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. See details.
You Save: $2.80 (20%)
Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156005492/ref%3Dnosim/lksmsubsite-sub-bk-asin-20/002-0533898-5440069


171 posted on 09/19/2003 3:40:00 PM PDT by .cnI redruM (There are two certainties. Death and Texas.)
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To: MalcolmS
That be the one and only "Shiver-me-timbers" Robert Newton from Disney's Treasure Island! I swear on a stack-a bibles!
172 posted on 09/19/2003 3:44:27 PM PDT by Merdoug
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To: MalcolmS
Belay that! Them Time Bandit knaves were short little lubbers. Mayhap that be the work of the Crewe of the Python and Cap'n Black John Cleese.

...MERCY.....

and Terry Gilliam, the Director.and of the movie Brazil.

173 posted on 09/19/2003 3:44:31 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid,doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :)
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To: Merdoug
>>That be the one and only "Shiver-me-timbers" Robert Newton from Disney's Treasure Island! I swear on a stack-a bibles! <<

(LongJohnSilver)
You be careful with them Bibles. Only a fool would cut a Bible.
(/LongJohnSilver)
174 posted on 09/19/2003 3:49:02 PM PDT by MalcolmS (Post Like A Pirate Day: Sept 19. Arrrr Matey!)
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To: MalcolmS
Arrr! Speaking of "cut", the UNCUT version of Disney's Treasure Island be out on DVD now. Adds a couple of scenes those pansy disney pantiwaists cut-out cause they thought it as too "violent". Every true pirate aught to go out and get a copy!
175 posted on 09/19/2003 3:53:55 PM PDT by Merdoug
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To: MalcolmS; skinkinthegrass; pbear8
Um, we've got two BSA certified lifeguards here with Georgia Canoe Association certificates in whitewater kayaking . . .

I think we'd make a great stealth boarding party . . . as long as it's dark (the colors are a little garish for daytime wear).

176 posted on 09/19/2003 4:25:16 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
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To: MalcolmS
arggggh!

"The black spot! I thought so," he observed. "Where might you have got the paper? Why, hillo! Look here, now; this ain't lucky! You've gone and cut this out of a Bible. What fool's cut a Bible?"

"Ah, there!" said Morgan. "There! Wot did I say? No good'll come o' that, I said."

"Well, you've about fixed it now, among you," continued Silver. "You'll all swing now, I reckon. What soft- headed lubber had a Bible?"

"It was Dick," said one.

"Dick, was it? Then Dick can get to prayers," said Silver. "He's seen his slice of luck, has Dick, and you may lay to that."


177 posted on 09/19/2003 4:28:22 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
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To: MalcolmS; skinkinthegrass; pbear8
. . . and I almost forgot.

We've got the hairiest dive knives you ever saw buckled to our PFDs.

First river trip I ever went on sweep boater was paddling a decked canoe. She had this HUGE dive knife strapped to her PFD - I swear the blade was 10 inches long.

I asked her, "What on earth is that for? To cut your buddy if you see a shark?"

She just grinned, pulled it halfway out of the sheath, and snarled, "ARRRRR! RAFTERS!"

All canoeists are a little bit crazy. Of course, they think kayakers are nutty too. They ALL hate rafters (you get that way after 2 or 3 raftloads of loons have run over you and laughed at how they "trashed that guy".)


178 posted on 09/19/2003 4:36:07 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
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To: AnAmericanMother
Arrr! Well, with tall tales like that one, ye be welcome t' join any one o' me boarding parties, and yer knife waving mate, too!

But we'll be havin' none of them accountin' ditties aboard ship, or it's the plank for thee!
179 posted on 09/19/2003 4:59:00 PM PDT by MalcolmS (Post Like A Pirate Day: Sept 19. Arrrr Matey!)
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To: MalcolmS
Aye, aye! Sir!

(very quietly) ". . . fifteen men on a dead man's chest,
Yo, ho, ho! and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil have done for the rest,
Yo, ho, ho! and a bottle of rum!

180 posted on 09/19/2003 5:04:25 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . there is nothing new under the sun.)
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