Saturday, September 19, 2009
International Talk Like a Pirate Day is being celebrated today, as it has every September 19 for the last decade.
The tradition was started by John Baur and Mark Summers, known to fellow pirates as Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket. It became popular in 2002, when US author Dave Barry joined the support. Baur and Summers are both published authors themselves, as well as self-publishing books.
In Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom the Campaign for Real Ale has organised a pirate pub crawl, while a London pub is offering rum at £0.50 a time. There are several events linked to the cancer charity Marie Curie. A Los Angeles bar is offering a day of ‘sexy pirate talk’.
Australia’s Whitsunday Islands are holding an event organised by a man identified by ABC only as Captain Dan van Blarcom. “We’re the polite pirates and we always use our manners and say please and thank you and ensure our visitors always come first,” he said, adding that people caught not having fun may be made to walk the plank and that there are “some pirate hip hop music and other pirate songs” on offer.
Bauer and Summers started the day after deciding that raquetball was much more fun when various pirate sayings were mixed into the game. The picked today as it was one of the few dates Summers could remember that did not already have a major holiday, being his ex-wife’s birthday.