September 19 2012: One Interesting Thing - International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Ahoy mateys! It's "International Talk Like A Pirate Day." I have a confession to make. I didn't really celebrate it. I found out about it this morning on Facebook, and I did make a post in Pirate, but I didn't go any farther than that. I had a funeral this morning, and you can't really open a funeral by saying "Ahoy mateys!" It just wouldn't be well received. But this was Talk Like A Pirate Day - as important occasion for a holiday as I've ever heard. It all began with a bunch of buddies who were playing racquetball in Oregon on June 6, 1995, who suddenly started talking to each other in Pirate, and decided that this had to be shared with the world. But they couldn't designate June 6 as Talk Like A Pirate Day because that's the anniversary of D-Day, so September 19 was the choice because basically nothing else ever happens on September 19. Great idea & great occasion. The only real problem with the occasion is that pirates didn't really speak Pirate. Most people seem to think that pirates spoke the same sort of English as anyone else would. The only difference between pirates and everybody else was that the pirates were - well - pirates. Apparently what we think of Pirate language today was created - why am I not surprised - by Disney in the 1950 movie "Treasure Island." But who really cares? It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day. And it's all just in fun!

International Talk Like A Pirate Day Website