September 19, 2022 – Pirates

Avast ye mateys!  Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! The holiday was created in 1995, but humorist Dave Barry is responsible for popularizing it after he wrote about it in his column in 2002.
Thousands of pirates sailed the seas during the Golden Age of Piracy, between 1650 and 1720. Pirates were around long before that though, with evidence of pirates plundering the Aegean and Mediterranean seas in the 14th century.
Many people were driven to piracy because it offered power and a way to make money quickly. Pirates had a surprising system of hierarchy and democracy on board their ships, determining how their loot was distributed. There was even a system of checks and balances, and pirate codes that banned things like gambling and smoking.
Pirates didn’t bury their treasure. Often, they stole necessities, like food, clothing, water, and weapons, all things that would be used immediately. There’s also no proof that they made people walk the plank. Pirates generally kept their prisoners alive as hostages, and if a captive needed to be disposed of, just throwing them overboard was much easier. Pirates also didn’t have their own language or dialect. There were pirates from all over the world, and they talked just like any other sailor would. We have the 1950 Disney movie Treasure Island to thank for what we know as “pirate-speak”. Actor Robert Newton, who played Long John Silver, used an exaggerated West Country accent which popularized the stereotypical pirate voice. Because of this, he’s considered the patron saint of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Learn more here.