We’re great ‘pirate’ fans. When we do costume, that’s us. No discussing the last Pirate movie: we haven’t had a chance to see it, for good or ill. So no loose talk, eh?
National Talk Like A Pirate Day…in case ye hadn’t noticed.
by CJ | Sep 19, 2011 | Journal | 21 comments
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Okay, how’s this: Avast, ye hearty sea dogs, er, cat-folk! Let’s have a mug o’ grog. I’ll not talk o’ the last Pirate movie because I’ve not seen it yet meself! No fears here – loose lips sink ships!!! Arrrr. And stuff like that. (now off to give my coworkers a laugh, and to convince them that, yes, I really am that crazy!)
Hope you all have a wacky fun piratical day.
Shiver me timbers, Jim lad, and ‘aul on them there halyards me hearties! Altogether now – Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!
Blister me barnacles this ‘ere idiom is ‘ard to sustain, Jim lad. Ooh Arrrh! Now, where’s me treasure map?
*squawk from parrot – ‘pieces of eight! pieces of eight!*
Just joined the site and never in a million years thought my first comment would be sub-Long John Silver.
Superb day! ooh arrgh!
Arrrrrrrrrrrh! Ye be doin’ fine, me hearties!
Aaaarrrh!
This be a Talk Like Long John Silver Day! Long John be a’ great pirate a’ e’er sail’d the seben seas. But there be t’other famous pirates that did na talk like this.
Captain Blood, for instance, sounded pretty much like Errol Flynn did in all his other movies. 8=P
That war a few voyages ago, I ought to remember. Wallace Beery, was it? Ne’er a better pirate on screen, says I.
‘T’were, but it were Robert Newton I was in mind of! Hoy, I need another rum!
🙂 Arrh, I miss Long John Silver’s fish. Up here there be only one store, an’ not real good. Skippers’ is more salt than the Med.
okay- now I’m curious… what are the roots and origins of the pirate dialect…. anyone?
The Boston Globe did a piece on the origin of “pirate dialect” in their 9/18 Sunday Globe Ideas section yesterday, but they won’t let me find it on their website. The Globe hates letting anyone see the articles more than a day old and damme (that phrase is at least in a pirate vein) if I can remember what I registered under years ago. Probably insisted on some unique password I will never remember.
Any rate, the gist of the article was that Robert Newton, mentioned above, who starred as Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island, was from Dorset on the coast of England and simply was asked to speak in his own dialect, which is heavy on the “arrs.” When I was doing archaeological survey on the Dartmoor in Devon, next county over in the 80’s, I noticed that the locals sounded like pirates. Not know of Robert Newton, I surmised then that pirate dialect came from so many ships setting out from Plymouth on the coast of Devon. Indeed, Blackbeard sailed out of Portsmouth a bit further up, if I remember correctly from the absent article. But, mostly the accent is due to Robert Newton just talking normal.
Hi, glad to see you’re having fun with the pirate-speaking-day, and to hear your health is good, and to see the word-count starting up again after all the ‘alarums and excursions’. How is Jane? I liked the pictures of you and Seishi on her blog, he’s such a lovely and contented-looking cat. And how Eushu has grown! I was glad for your comment on the other thread that her health is recovered, as I’ve missed her on her blog. Is she just too busy with life, home improvements, doors, windows, walls etc.; or is she finally getting some time to write or paint something not connected to the home improvements? Not being an artist, I sometimes wonder how difficult is it to get back into a creative frame of mind, after having been stuck in ‘first priority: fight this illness’ and (both before and after that), ‘practical’ mindsets for a long time? I somehow feel that mentally turning yourself back into a creative writer after months of that would be a long and laborious process, and I very much hope I’m wrong… I was happy to see you start writing again, in the wordcount, it’s encouraging. (Sorry I can’t speak ‘pirate’ 😉 ).
Hi there! Yes, Jane is a little bit behind in her internetting. She’s worked so hard—and only cold weather has pulled the hammer and screwdriver out of her grip. She then came in and undertook to cover a chair: I actually understand this—the artistic self is waking up, and she’s starting to process in that vein, so other things will be coming—including internet communication.
The pirate dialect be mostly the way o’ folks not too learned an’ not too rich-like, yer basic salt o’ the earth lads, ye understands. Such as might have itchy feet or such as had naught o’ prospects fer better or p’haps such as had reason to avoid those with more legal lean in’s. Sometimes, they was adventuresome an’ had the in their veins. Sometimes, they were tired o’ tillin’ the fields. Sometimes, they had naught much but the shabby streets an’ alleys. Or sometimes, lads from fine families, lookin’ tae improve their fortunes an’ find waterer they might lack. Others as how they might be unpopular a’ land, fer one reason or other, personal predilec…predilec…what they was won’t to do, time and another.
Throw in Southern Englishmen and coastal lads and lasses, Scots and Irish and others from th Isles. A few landlubbers crazed mad-dog enough to go to sea, some eccentric types of religion or wealth or personal habits of one kind or another. Mix thoroughly with foreign nationals from all over Europeand the Med. Throw in then a few exotic folks from lands and seas beyond Europe. Mix thoroughly with salt water and grog and such-like.
In other words, you might have well-to-do scions, but mostly you had ordinary or poor folks, who were eager for something else besides what they had, if indeed they had anything, and on the whole, people who were hardy enough or desperate enough to put up with the dangers and hardships of shipboard life.
The pursuer dialect was likely common enough anywhere, but was drowned out by other speech patterns over time. Also, some was writerly poetic license to add flavor and romance to their stories.
Arrr, I hae nae seen the last two o’ them Pirates o’ the Carryin’ Off movies. ‘Tis likely time tae watch Master and Commander movie again, a favorite, and the Horatio Hornblower A&E series. The first book by Patrick O’Brien and the first Hornblower novel are sitting half-read in my To Read stack. Well, more like heap or multiple stacks….
I fit the good fight, I did today, and didn’t get an olde document converted, or I would have had a nice piratey illustration added to me trove at me island among the surf. (The scurvy program refused the gradients and fonts and insisted on not giving color information…aarrr, not pleased with the app and would have it walk the plank, would I, I woulda.) — Hoping, I be, tae solve the matter by threatenin’ the other program. ‘Tis a maun unfortunate misapprehension it has.)
Hmm, I always have tae watch me piratical talk. it wants to go into Scots-English or else clear back tae Jacobean/Shakespearean, a most distressin’ predicament, that be.
Speakin’ o’ pirates, ’tis a right shame Harry Mudd an’ Cyrano Jones didn’t pop back up in Star Trek. scurrilous knaves, to be sure, but most entertainin’ tae watch.
Not that we’d mind a certain bunch o’ hani and Magen and the likes, mind ye. Most welcome, lesson’ they’re stuck at dock swillin’ the grog. But no self-respectin’ hani cap’n, and surely no Magen son…hey! Unhand that barrel, ye flea-bitten rag-eared….
‘Arry Mudd an’ Cyrano Jones ‘ave made reappearances, if only by reputation. In th’ Star Trek Online game, ‘Arry’s fambly seems to ‘ave taken th’ ‘igh road an’ gone legit; they operates th’ Mudd Traders an’ ‘as a chain o’ starships what plies the interstellar trade routes. Cyrano Jones ‘ad a fambly too, an’ ‘is great-grandson is now a scientist what does research on those little furry tailless rats known as tribbles. Th’ Klingons still ‘ates ’em, though!
That was supposed to be mahen, not Magen or Mogen. Blarsted auto-correct insistin’ on bein’ hyper-correct, an’ therefore often wrong…especially when other than English. I has me nothin’ agin’ Magen or Mogen.
As someone who supposedly is also that creative type, I can say that being over-tired or over-stressed, illness, worry about those dear to you, or having lots of negatives going on, can often put a serious dent into creative energy and output. So can the day to day necessities of real-world work versus time to let loose your talent. My output lately has been in fits and starts. I would also say some things can create a profound need to unload that talent, either a flood of inspiration where you must use that talent to express those inspired ideas, or the urgent need to unleash pent-up feelings through your talent. The one way is positive and channels inspiration. The other is reactive against either a negative or toward a positive, so strongly affecting that a creative burst is the only possible response. Very common for artists, poets, and authors, also musicians. (Just as common but not always recognized for folks whose creativity is in areas other than “arts and letters.”
Er, I had noticed Jane’s been quiet online for a couple of weeks, but thought if I were to inquire, it might not help improve whatever it is, which could easily be, life gets in the way of living, sometimes. Just because she hasn’t been vocal online doesn’t mean she’s not busy and active in person. Hoping all is well there for all the household.
Also, I began reading Blood Red Moon on about the 12th or 13th, and am now in chapter 13 or 14, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the book. The inclusion of a three-way reference to Romans, Romanians, and Roma (Gypsies) is only part of the enjoyment. Very engaging story.
Avast, Yardarm! Quit stealin’ me grog, or ye’ll be walkin’ th’ plank at th’ point ‘o me cutlass t’ take a swim w’ th’ fishies in Davy Jones’ Locker!
“…and really bad eggs!”
Aaarrrr mateys, I managed to miss this one! Hope ye’ll not be makin’ me walk the plank!
I don’t know why you want to talk like a team which has been eliminated and is 19 games out of first place.
Well, at least we’re not trying to talk like boucaniers (sp?), the people who used to make charcoal by burning ricks of hardwood. Then, there are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, not to be confused with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and neither of them are to be confused with the Shejidan Piratical Society.
Really interesting about Robert Newton, Raesean.
I like the accent of the actor who played Hagrid for much the same reason.