Celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day

Every year on September 19, landlubbers and sea dogs alike celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, a tongue-in-cheek holiday that encourages everyone to unleash their inner buccaneer. What started in 1995 as a joke between friends John Baur and Mark Summers has since grown into a worldwide phenomenon, fueled by the internet, pop culture’s fascination with pirates, and radio DJ's like myself who can't help but talk like a pirate all day.

Celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day can be as simple as sprinkling your conversations with salty expressions like, “Arrr, matey!” or “Shiver me timbers!” But there are countless ways to lean in. Some throw costume parties with tricorn hats, eyepatches, and plastic cutlasses.

You can go all out and plan a themed dinner, serving seafood chowders or rum-inspired mocktails. Film buffs revisit Pirates of the Caribbean. Many local bars and coffee shops also play along, offering discounts to anyone who orders in pirate speak. As for me, I just try to work pirate speak in at every opportunity. My coworkers love it. #sarcasm I also wear a hat... and an eye patch... and a fake hook hand.

The day is also a great excuse to give back. Baur and Summers always encouraged participants to support charities like Mercy Ships, which provides healthcare via sea vessels. Blending silliness with generosity captures the true spirit of the holiday.

A many of the words we shout on Talk Like a Pirate Day have real maritime roots:

Far from being made-up gibberish, “avast” comes from the Dutch phrase hou’ vast, meaning “hold fast” or “stop.” Sailors used it as a command to halt whatever you were doing, like “knock it off!” on deck.

On Talk Like a Pirate Day we use this term to mean gossip, but it's familiar even apart from the holiday. On ships, a “scuttlebutt” was a water cask with a hole (or “scuttle”) in it. Crew members gathered around it for a drink and inevitably shared rumors and stories.

This phrase, often used to describe being drunk, comes straight from sailing. A “sheet” isn’t the sail itself, It’s the rope that holds a sail in place. If three sheets are loose and flapping, the sails go wild, and the ship staggers off course. Much like a sailor after too much rum.

This eerie expression refers to the bottom of the sea, where drowned sailors and sunken ships rest. “Davy Jones” was a mythical figure among seafarers, part devil and part sea spirit. To be sent to Davy Jones’ Locker meant a sailor had perished at sea and was never coming back.

Surprisingly, this common phrase has nautical roots. In the age of sail, space was so tight on warships that women sometimes gave birth on board between the cannons—literally “between the guns.” Babies born this way were jokingly called “sons of a gun,” and the phrase stuck as a colorful (and later affectionate) term.

Want more pirate terms and how to say them? Check this out.

So whether you’re donning a pirate hat, throwing in a hearty “yo-ho-ho,” or sharing some nautical trivia, Talk Like a Pirate Day is a reminder that language, laughter, and a little imagination can turn an ordinary day into a swashbuckling adventure. Maybe your coworkers will like it too. lol