Avast Ye! September 19 is Talk like a Pirate Day

Walk the plank if you did not know that September 19th is the annual International Talk Like A Pirate Day. It's as simple as it sounds, an excuse to talk like a pirate all day long, without fear of two guys with butterfly nets chasing you around.

According to the holiday's Wikipedia page, International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a parody holiday, started in 1995 as an inside joke among two friends, John Baur and Mark Summers. It gained national attention when the pair sent a letter to humorist Dave Barry in 2002, and since then, the holiday has virally grown into notoriety.

Baur and Summers have set up an official website for the phenomenon at www.talklikeapirate.com and have written a book entitled "The Pirate Life: Unleashing Your Inner Buccaneer."

Last year on ITLAPD, Google devoted their main search page to the holiday with a pirate logo, and the familiar search buttons read "Google Searrrch" and "I Be Feelin' Lucky," among other tweaks. Google still has it archived for your viewing pleasure.

In gaming news, Telltale Games is offering free downloads of Tales of Monkey Island for 24 hours. World of Warcraft is celebrating the day today by letting players become honorary pirates for 12 hours by talking to Dread Captain Demeza in Booty Bay.

In sports news, the Pittsburgh Pirates will celebrate by losing to the San Diego Padres.

If you feel like getting three sheets to the wind, in Tempe, Arizona, four bars and restaurants are commemorating the day with Pirate Day-themed pub crawls. The LA Times reports that Redwood Bar & Grill is celebrating the day with a costume contest and pirate joke contest. Countless other bars and house parties will be celebrating the day with similar acts of piracy.

Don't feel like a swabby landlubber if you feel left out of the fun. Brush up on your pirate vocabulary with some pirate phrases. Memorize some pirate jokes. Or fire up the pirate name generator to find out what your pirate name would be.

If you prefer to batten down the hatches, you can always engage in an all-day viewing of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, the Errol Flynn classic Captain Blood, or Steven Spielberg's Hook. Luckily, for the pirate kids, none of these movies is rated "Arrrr!" Just don't pirate these movies, or the RIAA will run a shot across your bow.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day comes only once a year, so feel free to take the opportunity to talk like a buccaneer in the supermarket, or wear a fake parrot on your shoulder as you mow the lawn.

Sources:
Wikipedia, "International Talk Like a Pirate Day"
TalkLikeAPirate.com
Google.com, "International Talk Like a Pirate Day Search Page"
Telltale Games, "Play Like a Pirate"
World of Warcraft, "Info>Events>Pirate Day"
Metromix Phoenix, "Talk Like a Pirate Day Pub Crawl"
LA Times, "Talk Like a Pirate Day-Redwood Bar & Grill"