Talk silly, get free donuts and learn something

September 19, 2014 6:05 AM

Avast ye maties, it be Talk Like A Pirate Day! When ye be finished dressin up to get free donuts, take a look at this beauty of a link, where a man wonders 'bout the existence of black pirates!
posted by Brandon Blatcher (31 comments total)

Second link points to second page of article.
posted by muddgirl at 6:09 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Today I learned How to Talk like a French Pirate

and the splendidly bonus Vocabulary of Captain Haddock
posted by emilyw at 6:17 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

I've never actually heard anyone talk like a pirate on this day. As far as I can tell, it's "Mention On the Internet it's Talk Like A Pirate Day and then Just Go About Your Day Like Any Other Day" Day.

I think if anyone actually did come up to me and talked like a pirate I'd just sort of look at them funny and walk away.
posted by bondcliff at 6:31 AM on September 19, 2014 [7 favorites]

Encyclopaedist extraordinaire Jess Nevins, who has ably annotated Alan Moore's adventures of science-pirate Captain Nemo, has provided some contemporary examples of pirate-talk.
posted by Doktor Zed at 6:34 AM on September 19, 2014

To be sure, I'll be yarnin among the spars. All gentlemen of fortune be advised to avoid looking like a lubber, or I'll tie ye to the mast and use you for musket practice. Yarr.
posted by valkane at 6:35 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

"I think if anyone actually did come up to me and talked like a pirate I'd just sort of look at them funny and walk away."

That's how I feel, except by "look at them funny and walk away" I mean "check the immediate vicinity for any possible witnesses to my upcoming act of violence."
posted by komara at 6:36 AM on September 19, 2014

It's Dickpunch Anyone Talking Like a Pirate Day again already? How time flies!
posted by Thorzdad at 6:43 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

RAP LIKE A PIRATE
WALK LIKE A PIRATE
ACT LIKE A PIRATE
TALK LIKE A PIRATE
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:46 AM on September 19, 2014

"Today I learned How to Talk like a French Pirate."

I learned how to talk like a french pirate in the mid 1970s.
posted by Rob Rockets at 6:46 AM on September 19, 2014

I'd love to participate, but it's hard to get the Somali diction down perfectly.
posted by Renoroc at 6:53 AM on September 19, 2014 [6 favorites]

Krispy Kreme
Donut Shop and Coffee Shop
9 Southgate St, Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, BA1 1AQ, United Kingdom

Wow, this KK must have given out thousands of free doughnuts today.
posted by FelliniBlank at 6:56 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Avast! Thank ye for shaking loose the old noggin' I'll cast sail and call me mates to remind them of this great day.
posted by MikeWarot at 7:06 AM on September 19, 2014

"Drink, like, a Piraat" Day.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:09 AM on September 19, 2014

This is my annual late September message to the internet that:

AVAST DOESN"T MEAN HELLO in 'PIRATE', NOR ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE AND NEVER HAS. IT MEANS "STOP OBEYING MY LAST ORDER".

"Avast" has been in general nautical use since the 17th century.

"Avast" is an order to "stop, cease, hold still," and comes from the Dutch phrase "houd vast" (meaning "hold fast"), frequently apparently slurred into "hou'vast."

-- Todayifoundout, among many many many many many other possible sources.

I don't mind you lubbers wanna talk like a 'pirate' today or everyday, but if you're gonna do it, do it right.

To get somebody's attention you shout AHOY -- not AVAST. Opening with AVAST doesn't even rise to the level of wrong -- it's nonsense, the kind of talk liable to get you thrown in the brig. Y'follow?

Right. As you were.


Unless you wanna talk about 'over and out' *snort*.
posted by Herodios at 7:38 AM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Sorry, but Ahoy Your Ass just wouldn't have the same ring to it.
posted by Wolfdog at 7:42 AM on September 19, 2014

Pro-tip for users of AVAST antivirus products: changing your language settings to "pirate" will get your occasional "your system is protected"-type messages into the spirit of the day.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 8:06 AM on September 19, 2014

Another dose of scallywag swagger.

(Unfortunately, Capone capwns this one.)
posted by droplet at 8:07 AM on September 19, 2014

Mark Critch tweeted "Today is 'Talk Like A Pirate Day'. Or in Newfoundland - 'Friday.'"
posted by erlking at 8:12 AM on September 19, 2014

R
posted by Segundus at 8:12 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

1) "Avast" is almost always in the context of "Avast, ye scury dogs" and thus is not "hello", it's a command to stop. The current command is "belay", which originally meant "stop hauling that line and tie it off", see "Belaying Pins" which you use to tie off running lines.

2) "Over and out" was originally correct. "Over" means "back to you, I expect a response" and "Out" meant "I am done transmitting". Thus "Over and out" meant "Back to you, I expect a response and I won't be responding." The correct reply is to respond, then finish with "out." If you needed a response back, you either re-call or you'd "break" which is the universal word for "screw protocol, I need to talk and you need to answer."

Nowadays, over and out is incorrect. Over, or out.
posted by eriko at 8:37 AM on September 19, 2014

Yarg, taking "talk like a pirate day" seriously is to miss the point almost entirely, arr.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:43 AM on September 19, 2014

My 3 year old nephew loves 2 things above all else - Pirates and Donuts. He has been looking forward to this day for a week. He drew all over his arms and legs last night (because pirates have tattoos), and was up early this morning with his hat, eyepatch, hook hand, and sword. He was so excited to go get his donuts he told my sister he was going to make her walk the plank if she didn't hurry up.
posted by elvissa at 8:47 AM on September 19, 2014 [7 favorites]

My 3 year old nephew loves 2 things above all else - Pirates and Donuts.

In that case, you need to get him to Columbus, Ohio.

There is not a moment to be lost.
posted by Herodios at 9:50 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

and was up early this morning with his hat, eyepatch, hook hand, and sword

For maximum authenticity (and maximum intersibling prank wars) you should tell him he needs to not bathe or brush his teeth for at least a month beforehand.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:11 AM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

"Talk Like a Pirate Day" Busted: Not Even Pirates Spoke Pirate (National Geographic, Sept. 19, 2011)

It should really be "Talk like you're from English West Country during early 20th century Day," because the language can be traced back to the 1950s Disney movie Treasure Island, starring Robert Newton as fictional pirate Long John Silver. Apparently, Newton based his pirate talk in the film on the dialect of his native West Country in southwestern England, which just happened to be where Long John Silver hailed from in the Treasure Island novel.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:12 AM on September 19, 2014 [3 favorites]

Newton based his pirate talk in the film on the dialect of his native West Country in southwestern England, which just happened to be where Long John Silver hailed from in the Treasure Island novel.

That's because the stereotype of the seafaring man from the west country ws already well-established in Stevenson's time.
 
posted by Herodios at 11:41 AM on September 19, 2014

That's because the stereotype of the seafaring man from the west country ws already well-established in Stevenson's time.

I prefer to think of today as Talk Like Tess Durbeyfield and Jude Fawley Day.
posted by FelliniBlank at 1:05 PM on September 19, 2014

Well it gives me an excuse to send silly texts, so not picky about the origins, even though it's an interesting bit of history.

Why didn't the pirate take his children to the movie? It was rated ArrrGH!
posted by annsunny at 1:53 PM on September 19, 2014

My daughter convinced me that because it's talk like a pirate day, she needed to go to school in a bandana and eye patch. When questioned (as school activities generally get emailed out in advance) she did admit she wasn't sure if anyone else was dressing up; this deterred her not at all. I did manage to stop her from trying to find the most pirate shirt and pants to go with her look, however. She doesn't even know about the free donuts twenty minutes away.
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:10 PM on September 19, 2014

Approximated conversation I had with my friend about an hour ago:

"Oh, yeah, it's Talk Like A Pirate Day. I forgot to."
"Aye, matey."
"Shiver me timbers."
"Aye, aye, captain."
"Polly want a pirate."
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:11 PM on September 19, 2014

For some, Talk Like a Pirate Day is a cute novelty. For others, it's an important and profitable workday.

(Newark, Delaware. That's me in the center, holding the doughnuts. We made a detour en route to our paying gig at a pirate festival in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. We sang "The Derelict" and were amply rewarded. It wasn't until later that we realized we'd been given six dozen doughnuts instead of the five to which we were entitled.)
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:45 PM on September 20, 2014