Avast Ye Matey
September 19th, 2003
Don't forget today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, the most important holiday of the year.
Make sure to use as much pirate lingo in as many situations as possible today, especially when speaking to people who don't know it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Aarrr!
Here's a few words to help get ye started:
Aft - Short for "after." Toward the rear of the ship.
Ahoy - "Hello!"
Avast! - "Hey!" Could be used as "Stop that!" or "Who goes there?"
Belay - Stop that. "Belay that talk!" would mean "Shut up!"
Bilge! - Nonsense, or foolish talk. The bilges of a ship are the lowest parts, inside the hull along the keel. They fill with stinking bilgewater -- or just "bilge."
Blimey! - An exclamation of surprise.
Buccaneer - A general term for the Caribbean pirates.
Bucko - Familiar term. "Me bucko" = "my friend."
Chantey - A sailor's song. Also spelled "shantey" or "shanty."
Chase - The ship being pursued. "The chase is making full sail, sir" = "The ship we're after is going as fast as she can."
Crow's nest - A small platform, sometimes enclosed, near the top of a mast, where a lookout could have a better view when watching for sails or for land.
Davy Jones' locker - The bottom of the sea.
Deadlights - Eyes. "Use yer deadlights, matey!"
Dead men tell no tales - Standard pirate excuse for leaving no survivors.
Doubloon - A Spanish gold coin. At different times, it was worth either 4 or 16 silver pesos, or "pieces of eight."
Gangway! - "Get out of my way!"
Grog - Generically, any alcoholic drink. Specifically, rum diluted with water to make it go farther.
Fore, or forrard - Toward the front end of the ship.
Flogging - Punishment by caning, or by whipping with the cat.
Hands - The crew of a ship; sailors.
Handsomely - Quickly. "Handsomely now, men!" = "Hurry up!"
Jolly Roger - The pirates' skull-and-crossbones flag.
Keelhaul - Punishment by dragging under the ship, from one side to the other. The victim of a keelhauling would be half-drowned, or worse, and lacerated by the barnacles that grew beneath the ship.
Lad, lass - A way to address someone younger than you.
Landlubber or just lubber - A non-sailor.
Line - A rope in use as part of the ship's rigging, or as a towing line.
Me - A piratical way to say "my."
Me hearties - Typical way for a pirate leader to address his crew.
Matey - A piratical way to address someone in a friendly fashion.
Poop deck - The highest deck at the aft end of a large ship.
Rope's end - another term for flogging. "Ye'll meet the rope's end for that, me bucko!"
Scurvy - (1) A deficiency disease which often afflicted sailors; it was caused by lack of vitamin C. (2) A derogatory adjective suitable for use in a loud voice, as in "Ye scurvy dogs!"
Shiver me timbers! - An expression of surprise or strong emotion.
Smartly - Quickly. "Smartly there, men!" = "Hurry up!"
Swab - A disrespectful term for a seaman. "Man that gun, ye cowardly swabs!"
Walk the plank - A piratical execution. The victim, usually blindfolded or with bound hands or both, is forced to walk along a plank laid over the ship's side, to fall into the water below. Except this seems to be a total invention; it first appeared in 19th-century fiction, long after the great days of piracy.
Weigh anchor - To haul the anchor up; more generally, to leave port.
Yo-ho-ho - A very piratical thing to say, whether it actually means anything or not.
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I'll talk to anybody............just don't show me any more stinky meat!
So how was the torrential downpour?
everyone thinks i'm weird. i tried explaining why i'm not talking in regular english, but they still think i'm crazy.
That's it, just keep on doing it. Tell them your gonna make them walk the plank if they don't speak pirate also.
guess what...
i was talking like a pirate, and a parrot appeared on my shoulder.
i kept on talking, and a treasure chest full of gold and jewels appeared.
i kept talking some more, and the parrot swooped off my shoulder and grabbed the handle of the chest with its prongy feet, lifted it up, and flew away with my freakin' treasure. @#(*&$!!*#!
man, that damn parrot is gonna get its blimey arse kicked if it ever returns! i'm gonna make it walk the longest plank you ever did see. *(&#@^!*#*&!#!!
hey -- i made a comment on the pirate blog entry, but the viewer support tally shows it as a comment on the stinky meat project, which i can guarantee you i was NOT checking out again. something's up. AARRR!
oh wait, i take that back. i just figured out what happened. the most recent viewer support comments are added to the bottom of the list. didn't they used to go top to bottom? hmm... well, sorry about the confusion on my part. yo ho ho, it looks like i was wrong. although, matey, i must say you have contributed to that confusion with the viewer support on the starboard side adding from the aft.
Wow! Hard to believe there are no comments for almost two years now. And I was getting so excited about speaking like a Pirate. Avast ye scurvey swabs! Make fast the gib! Geebunkle me argest floogerpoodle!
So with Talk Like a Pirate Day coming up again, I thought you might like to know that it will come in handy with the growing trend of FSM. See http://www.venganza.org/