Talk Like a Pirate Day: Pirates and Pencils

How to Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day

Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum! Sixteen men on a dead man’s chest! Arrrr, ya scurvy scum! Sing me a sea shanty!

**Crickets**

Okay, I admit it. I’m really, really terrible at talking like a pirate. Every year, in honor of today’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day, I try to rid myself of my landlubber-y ways and tap into my inner pirate. But I can’t do it. Give me ten minutes of pirate speak, and I sound less like Blackbeard and more like a really angry, somewhat intoxicated version of the Lucky Charms Leprechaun.

However, my own personal failings as a pirate aside, you have to admit that pirates exert a powerful hold on our collective imagination. Though historically pirates have been seen as marauding bands of lawless, ocean-bound thugs, of late they have been cast as slightly amoral, mostly harmless antiheroes that we can’t help but root for (Johnny Depp, I blame you). Their moral ambiguity, penchant for drinking, cursing and doing whatever they please, coupled with a wicked cool vocabulary makes them irresistible.

Apparently John Baur and Mark Summers thought so too, because fifteen years ago the two came up with International Talk Like a Pirate Day during a heated game of softball, during which the two began to call each other out with salty curses laden with pirate jargon. The two thought it would be a hoot to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day every Spetember 19th, as it was the birthday of Mark’s ex-wife, and the date was lodged in his head for no good reason.

Now, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is celebrated around the world, with hundreds of events held in dozens of countries across the globe. From Santa Fe to Shanghai, pirate wannabes will be donning their eyepatches and hoops while spouting their best pirate speak. You can get in on the fun in ways big and small, be it by switching your Facebook language settings to Pirate Speak, sprinkling a couple of “Arrrrghs” and “Mateys” into your conversation, or by taping a printout of a skull-and-crossbones to your pencil, letting your pirate flag wave proudly, even at your desk. A Palomino Blackwing pairs particularly well with the skull and crossbone motif!

You can never tell who is going to get in on the action when International Talk Like a Pirate Day approaches. Today, President Obama himself was photographed chatting with a pirate emissary who stopped by the Oval Office for a chat. I haven’t had any piratical visitors in my office yet today, but the day is still young, and there are at least ten more hours of Pirate-y goodness to go.