YouTube's What You Ought to Know provides this delightful primer (above) on how to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but where does this, our most beloved of holidays in which we still have to go to work, come from?
Twas a balmy on Ye Olde Racquetball Court in Albany, Oregon, the legend goes, way back in nineteen hundred and ninety-five. During a fierce battle of sportsmanship between John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), one of them sustained injury and was heard to shout "Arrgh!" From that painful utterance, an idea emerged! To make every Sept. 19 — not the anniversary of the game, but Summers' ex-wife's birthday, should be International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
"Why do we need an International Talk Like a Pirate Day?" reads the official TLAPD website of John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), the founding blighters behind this most beloved holiday. "Make no mistake. We do. But it's a little hard to articulate why, especially when you've made the mistake of referring to your wife as a scurvy bilge rat and tried to order her back into the galley."
Visit Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy's official Talk Like A Pirate website for more tips on how to properly observe this holiday and get ready for next year with this hilarious handbook, "The Pirate Life: Unleashing Your Inner Buccaneer." And find other ways to celebrate all year round on the Internet:
Ye Olde Interwebs
Read ye Geek Dad Curtis Silver's exclusive coverage of Ol' Chumbucket and Capn' Slappy over at Wi-arrrrrrrrred (or, as the landlubbers say, Wired.com):
- Divide the Plunder With Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew
- Arrrrrr You Ready for International Talk Like a Pirate Day? (GeekDad Wayback Machine)
- Join Facebook's Official Talk Like A Pirate Day Fan Page.
- Change Facebook to pirate speak — scroll to the bottom of your Facebook page and click "English" (or whatever language you have set) and change to English (Pirate).
Google Maps
Prove it really is International Talk Like A Pirate Day by adding your party to the Pirate Day Google map! Contact webwench@talklikeapirate.com with general information (don't forget to say where ye be, geographically speaking, and whether the event is open to the public) and she'll put ye on the map - and the calendarrrrrrr, too!
eGreetings
Send your mates a talking pirate eGreeting from StarGreetz.
Find ye Pirate name:
- What's My Pirate Name? (Quiz)
- What is your pirate name? (Name generator )
- Pirate name generator
- The Pirate Generator won't just give you a name, it'll give you a whole pirate persona!
- Now that ye've got yer name, what do ye name yer ship? Try this pirate ship name generator!
Pirate translators
- Here be Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy's English-to-pirate translators
- Post Like A Pirate- A translator that converts your e-mail or Twitter message to pirate-ese.
- FaceBook pirate translation: Log in to your facebook page, scroll to the bottom until you see "English" (or the language of your choice). Click on the link and choose "English - Pirate" from the menu to convert your FB page to pirate. Note: This is what you'll see, not what your friends will see. If you want the latter, use:
- A flash-animated translator that lets ye send yer piratical messages to yer friends
- Pirate translator capable of translating anything from a few words up to an entire Web page.
- Pirate Quote Generator (Including yet another pirate name generator)
- NEW: Another Pirate Quote Generatorfrom Cap'n Matt in the UK.
- Translate-Pirate.com - Renders entire Web pages in Pirate-talk.
iPirate apps for Aye Phones
- Pirate Talk not only adds pirattitude to yer daily communications but also speaks what you type - in pirate talk!
- The AyePhone, another iPhone app promising "Now Every Day Can Be Talk Like A Pirate Day
- The iPatch,an app to turn all your cellcam subjects into Pirates.
- Salem Pirates- Developing pirate-themed iPhone applications, for sale on iTunes.
Pirate cats
Here be 20 cats acting like pirates.
And harken back to the very first annaual International Talk Like a Pirate Day Singalong!
More on the annoying way we live now:
- How to stop pervs from stealing your naked pics
- Muppets do 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'
- Nixon, Beastie Boys make best mash-up video. Ever
Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.