Thursday, September 19, 2024, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. It’s a minor holiday, and a fairly young one, first created in 1995. The holiday was created by John Baur, aka Cap’n Slappy and Mark Summers, aka Ol’ Chumbucket. They decreed that once a year, everyone in the world should attempt to talk like a pirate.

Like most good things, the holiday developed by accident. June 6, 1995, Baur and Summers were playing racquetball. When one was struck by the ball, he called out “Arr” instead of ouch.

Dve Barry wrote in the Miami Herald “Baur and Summers came up with this idea a few years ago. They were playing racquetball, and, as so often happens, they began talking like pirates. And then it struck them: Why not have a day when EVERYBODY talks like a pirate? They decided that the logical day would be Sept. 19, because that — as you are no doubt aware — is Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday.”

June 6 being the anniversary of D-Day, Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket decided it would be disrespectful to have International Talk Like a Pirate Day on such a solemn occasion. They decided instead to have International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday, as that was a day he could easily remember and was not already claimed by a major holiday. They contacted syndicated columnist Dave Barry, and got him to help spread the word. It spread, and so did become an international event.

How Does One Celebrate This Holiday?

To celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, first and foremost attempt to speak like a pirate. Greet your friends with “Ahoy, matey”instead of “hey, there.” Instead of asking your daughter to sweep or mop the floor, please, order “swab the deck, wench!”

Or just watch these videos.

Baking a cake or cookies is purely optional. But if you were thinking of baking snickerdoodles anyway, any holiday is a good excuse for baking.

It’s a great day to read your favorite pirate books: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Scarface by Andre Norton, etc. or watching your favorite pirate movies: Captain Blood (1935), The Crimson Pirate (1952), Treasure Island(1934, and 1950), Muppet Treasure Island (1996), The Black Swan (1942), Swashbuckler (1976), Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003),or if you’re in the mood for Space Pirates, Ice Pirates (1984) or Treasure Planet (2002).

Sing your favorite pirate songs, or ask your favorite sci-fi Internet radio station to play some pirate songs: Queen of the Spanish Main or Pirate Gold, or Hey, It’s Can(n)on – Hermione Granger the Pirate Queen. Our DJs take requests, if you ask politely.

Why Do We Love Pirates?

Pirates are villainous rogues – thieves, murderers, kidnappers. They are very definitely the Bad Guys. So why do we love them so?

As the Disney song says:

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me
We pillage plunder, we rifle and loot
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho
We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot
Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho!”

We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot.

We’re not their mommies and dads, so why are we so fascinated by sea-bandits? You probably know that SFWA Grand Master Jane Yolen has written 400 books. But did you know her very first book was Pirates in Petticoats, a nonfiction account of female pirates? She made sure to remind her readers in that book that Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Jeanne de Clisson, et cetera, were not heroes. They were pirates, and thus the villains.

No matter how you celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, have a merry holiday, me mateys. Whether you indulge in rum or grog, do so responsibly. Never drink and drive. As for me, I’ll be spending the day with Errol Flynn DVDs … and maybe baking cookies.