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International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th was created in 1995 by friends John Baur and Mark Summers. It has gained popularity with humorous glossaries and websites, but parents should be cautious of inappropriate language. The day celebrates the fun aspects of piracy, such as learning pirate lingo and behavior. However, it tends to gloss over the more vicious elements of piracy.
“ARR” are you ready for September 19th? This is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, which can be a fun and entertaining event if your friends know why you’re growling or yelling “Ahoy Mateys!” to them. Talk Like a Pirate Day started off with a lot of humor and was more of a private joke than anything else between two good friends, John Baur and Mark Summers, who came up with this day in 1995.
Since the beginning of the day, Baur and Summers have received quite a bit of attention, including being notified in a column by Dave Barry in 2002. There are now many websites devoted to Talk Like a Pirate Day. These often include humorous glossaries of words you can try on your friends. Parents should examine these sites carefully, as some words may be a little inappropriate for children. Further attention was given to Talk Like a Pirate Day when the two friends were featured on a 2006 episode of the ABC reality show Wife Swap. Baur and his wife live like pirates, or so the show contended, and have tried to pass on the wisdom of piracy from the “old days” to a fairly honest family.
This was perhaps not Baur’s most successful venture. He’s had better luck convincing people that there should be a day dedicated to pirate behavior, or at least the word. It can be a fun thing to do, especially with school kids, who are studying early explorers, to become pirates for a day. It’s definitely an interesting way to learn about pirate behavior, at least the behavior of more innocent pirates, and pirate lingo and the role of piracy while exploring the New World.
In the episode Wife Swap, Baur and Summers were both present and tended to gloss over the more vicious elements of piracy. They argue that playing the pirate is fulfilling the childhood fantasy of living above the law and doing what you like while acting rough and tough. While modern day piracy is certainly nothing to celebrate, the Western world ascribes a kind of glory to pirates of the past, as evidenced by the enormous success of films like Pirates of the Caribbean.
Talk Like a Pirate Day, therefore, can be a celebration of the most cherished aspects of piracy. In particular, learning the language and having a class respond “ARR!” when you’ve asked them if they’ve done their homework it can be a fun way to spend an otherwise normal day.
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