Yes, indeed, let it be known Talk Like a Pirate Day 2009 is here! Mateys, it’s September 19 and that can only mean…argh! Change your speech patterns and take to the high seas!
According to CNN, The annual “holiday” was created by John “OI’ Chumbucket” Bauer and Mark “Cap’n Slappy” Summers in 1995 and popularized by writer Dave Barry in 2002.
They reveal in an interview with the news organization that the idea began at a YMCA racquetball court as the two friends, John Baur and Mark Summers, began insulting each other in pirate slang. Bauer said:
“We just grew up in a time and place where we saw the wrong movies, read the wrong books.”
The date September 19 was selected because it was Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday and he said: “the date was stuck in my head, and I wasn’t going to do anything with it anymore.”
They can be seen in the first video below, delivering an illuminating lesson on pirate lexicography as well as in a photo and an interview with Wired.com here.
The original Dave Barry article that brought the founders and their holiday such notoriety can be seen here.
As The Telegraph notes, this is an international holiday; no matter where you are you can celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day 2009. In fact you do not even leave to go anywhere; they cite 1,500 YouTube videos and more than 10 million Web sites fostering the tradition. Yes, a Google search will quickly confirm this.
Additionally the founders John Baur and Mark Summers have published two books, and self-published an additional two others. They also own the original TalkLikeAPirate.com Web site.
That’s the latest word on the holiday you don’t want to miss. Argh! It’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day 2009!