Archive: Arts & Entertainment

For reasons they can't explain to this day, journalist John Baur and social worker Mark Summers began heckling each other during a racquetball game in 1995.  In pirate slang.  By the end of the game they were having so much fun that they decided the world needed a new national holiday: Talk Like A Pirate Day.  They decided the day of their game, June 6th, was probably not a good idea, since it was D-Day.  So Summers set the date for September 19th.  This Sunday is the 15th annual Talk Like a Pirate Day.

The holiday was so little known for its first six years that even its founders had to be reminded by a friend that it was time to celebrate.  But in 2002 Baur happened upon nationally syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry's email address.

"We knew he wouldn't be able to resist," they recall.  "Then we offered him the only thing we had, the chance to be official national spokesman for the event.  We clicked the send button, casting our bread upon the water, if we may wax Biblical."

They were right.  Barry loved the idea.  That September Baur received a phone call from his local paper's editor to say she was editing Barry's column... and it was about him.

"This is a great idea, and you, me bucko, should be part of it," Barry wrote. "Join us on Sept. 19. You HAVE the buckles, darn it: Don't be afraid to swash them! Let's make this into a grass-roots movement that sweeps the nation, like campaign-finance reform, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I truly think this idea could bring us, as a nation, closer together."

Since then Talk Like A Pirate Day has become something of a cult movement.  Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and  Summers (Cap'n Slappy) were instant celebrities, appearing on radio programs around the world.  They decided to make it an international holiday after appearing on Australian radio, and the holiday has become something of a phenomenon around the world, as have the two pirates, as well as Summer's wife Tori (Mad Sally).

In fact Mad Sally came into some serious pirate fame of her own in 2007 when she appeared on the ABC Television reality show, 'Wife Swap.'  As a Bohemian piratical saucy wench, she was matched with what she characterizes as an orderly and controlled family, and you can imagine how the sparks flew, both in her temporary family and back home where her free spirited family had to deal with, shall we say, a more uptight mom.


Talk Like A Pirate Day's Web site features all kinds of tips on how to celebrate your inner pirate.  One of several videos explains how to woo a pirate wench, offers T-Shirts and books, and an advice column, 'Ask Capn' Slappy in which Summers encourages letter writers to talk like a pirate, opines on the issue of robot pirates, helps out with choosing pirate names, and tells drunken wenches where they can get pirate costumes.  There is even a section oh how to pick up pirates, with saucy pickup lines like, 'I've sailed the seven seas, and you're the sleekest schooner I've ever sighted.'

After the success of their book 'Pirattitude' in 2005 the pair came out with 'The Pirate Life' in 2008.  'Pirattitude' is in its sixth printing.  In addition to the Web site Talk Like A Pirate Day has added a presence on Facebook and Twitter.  Monday's tweet: This mornin's pirate haiku (or "Pi-Ku"): Enjoy a nice lime! / That clean, fresh, citrussy taste! / "It's SCURV-Y-LI-CIOUS!"

Talk Like a Pirate Day has spawned all kinds of pirate activity, Web sites, and even English to Pirate translators on the Internet. 

So if ye haven`t already made 't an annual occurrence, ye still be havin' a wee days t' practice talkin' like a seafarin' hearty. On accoun' o' Sundee be th' official tide, an' ye`ll want t' be ready.
Ya scurvy cur who ortin' t' be keel hauled!  Arrrr!

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