International Talk Like a Pirate Day

What the day is

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is observed on September 19. The premise is exactly as stated: for one day, replace ordinary greetings with pirate ones. Hello becomes ahoy, friends become mateys, and the letter R gets considerably more use than it deserves.

It is a parody holiday and knows it. Nothing is commemorated, no one is honored, and the accent being imitated owes more to twentieth-century film than to any real sailor. That looseness is why it travels well: schools, libraries, radio stations and pubs all take part without anyone needing to agree on what it means.

Origin and background

The day was created in 1995 by John Baur and Mark Summers of Albany, Oregon, who adopted the pirate names Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy. The story they have told since is that the idea arrived mid-racquetball game, and that they settled on September 19 because it was easy to remember rather than for any nautical reason.

For seven years it stayed a private joke between friends. It became a public holiday in 2002, when the humor columnist Dave Barry devoted a column to it and handed the pair an audience of millions overnight. The day has also been adopted by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose adherents treat pirate dress as a point of doctrine, which has helped keep it circulating.

How to take part

The whole thing collapses if taken seriously, so the useful advice is about commitment rather than accuracy.

• Learn three phrases and use them relentlessly. Ahoy, avast, and arr will carry an entire day.
• Substitute nouns rather than inventing grammar: the kitchen is the galley, the car is the ship, colleagues are the crew.
• Warn people you talk to professionally, or pick your moments. A pirate voice lands differently in a staff meeting than in a school library.
• Read some real history afterwards if the costume version sparks interest. Actual golden-age piracy was short, brutal and far less charming than the film version.

If you want a low-effort version, most of the fun is in the greeting. Answer the phone once with ahoy and the day has been observed.