Chapter 61

Ahoy there! It’s time to buckle your swashes and grab a saucy wench! Every year on 19 September, we celebrate the silly holiday known as Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Created by two friends in 1995 as a joke, Talk Like a Pirate Day, on September 19, has become a beloved faux-holiday that lets everyone channel their inner Jack Sparrow.

Although real pirates likely didn’t use much of the vocabulary we now think of as “pirate lingo,” Talk Like a Pirate Day gives us a fun opportunity to break out of our routine, learn some history, and celebrate a bygone era. So, grab some grog (if you’re of drinking age), gather up some mates, and let your imagination take you on an adventure on the high seas!

Talk Like a Pirate Day was born in 1995, when two friends from Oregon jokingly created the holiday while playing racquetball. They celebrated it quietly for a few years, sharing the joke with a small group of friends. One day in 2002, they wrote to humor columnist Dave Barry asking him to be the spokesperson for National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Amused by the idea, Barry agreed. He wrote a column about the holiday, giving it national prominence and spawning a wave of Talk Like a Pirate Day events and celebrations across the country.

From Treasure Island to Pirates of the Caribbean, pirates continue to capture our imagination. Romanticized in literature and film as rugged outlaws, pirates have been around in one form or another for hundreds of years. First recorded in Asian seas after the collapse of the Chinese Han dynasty in the 2nd century, piracy grew across the world with the increase in maritime technology and ocean commerce that happened after the discovery of the New World.

When we think of pirates, we commonly picture the so-called Golden Age of Piracy as described in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” Published in 1883, the adventure novel was hugely influential in creating the pirate as a pop culture stereotype. “Treasure Island” gave us X-marked maps, shoulder-perched parrots, and buried treasure, motifs that continue to anchor any pirate-themed set.

Disneyland’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” opened in 1967 and the ride remains one of the park’s most popular attractions. It was the last attraction Walt worked on before his death. “Pirates” immerses visitors in the richly detailed world of a Caribbean port falling victim to plunder. (Not sure what the California ride is like, but we LOVED it in Orlando!) Unfortunately, most of the fun phrases we attribute to pirates are pure fiction. But that doesn’t need to keep you from enjoying this good-humored holiday with your friends! Without a basis in any specific religion or ideology, Talk Like a Pirate Day encourages people of all ages and creeds to celebrate something silly together.