Don't Miss Your Chance to be a Pirate ~ Tomorrow's the Day, Me Hearties!

So tomorrow, September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.   "Avast," ye say "I can be me real self tomorrow??!!?".   Aye!  All day and all night ~ and especially if ye celebrate with some tasty and potent grog!

The legend of this international holiday goes something like this. One day (June 6, 1995, to be exact) a pair of "guys" as they refer to themselves ~ Mark and John ~ lapsed into pirate slang while playing racquetball on Court #3 at the Albany, Oregon YMCA. They had so much fun with this that immediately following the match, they decided that what the world really needed was a new holiday, i.e. "Talk Like a Pirate Day" (TLAPD).

Why September 19 and not June 6? From the Official Talk Like A Pirate Day website, "As any guy can tell you, June 6 is the anniversary of World War II's D-Day. Guys hold dates like that in reverence and awe so there was no way we could use June 6.

"Mark came up with September 19. That was and is his ex-wife's birthday, and the only date he could readily recall that wasn't taken up with something like Christmas or the Super Bowl or something."

For the next seven years, John, Mark and their friend, Brian celebrated Talk Like A Pirate Day in relative obscurity - just the three of them, that is - until (from the TLAPD website again) "...One day in early 2002, John chanced upon Dave Barry's e-mail address. As the entire universe knows, Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist and author of somewhere between four and 6,000 books and the second funniest man in the universe."

Short story shorter, Dave Barry wrote a column (Arrrrr! Talk like a pirate -- or prepare to be boarded) and, as they say on their website, "...hell broke loose".

While that last statement is no doubt true for John, Mark and their families, TLAPD doesn't yet seem to be on the radar or sonar for the vast majority of the world's population, so I thought I'd do my teeny part here to give the holiday a little boost.  As an unabashed cruise nut with an undying love for the ocean blue, how could I not? And besides, it's silly and fun and that suits my tastes to a T.

So, if you're like me and want to play along on this MAJOR holiday tomorrow, here are some links to get you started:

The Official Talk Like a Pirate Day website - Tons and tons and TONS of links on this site, as one might expect, and quite a few pages too, so I've picked out a few of my favorites. I hope you'll find this a timesaver in getting your pirate on because frankly, you're running out of time!

• Why talk like a pirate - and how.  In addition to picking up pointers on using pirate lingo, here you'll learn one of the most important things about typing like a pirate... is it "arrr" or "arrrgh"? 
• Talk Like a Pirate Day:  The Five A's.  If you'd rather learn yer basic pirate slang by watching a video (starring John and Mark) go here.
• English-to-Pirate Translators.  A real timesaver if yer not quite up to snuff on yer pirate speak and don't feel like learning or studying at all. 
• What's My Pirate Name?  Answer 20 multiple choice questions and get yer own pirate name.  There's also html code there for sharing yer pirate name on yer website, blog, etc.
• Froggy.net Pirate Name Generator. Faster, much faster way to get yer pirate name ~ just type in yer real name, click male or female and submit.
• Pirate Ship Name Generator.  Now that ye have yer pirate name, ye need a pirate ship!  Get it here.
• How it all started... For the full story about how Talk Like a Pirate Day came to be, straight from the two pirate guys' mouths.
• Knit Like a Pirate.  Had to toss this one in for my friends who knit.  This page also includes links to embroider like a pirate, bead like a pirate and cross-stitch like a pirate.

Now go git yer pirate name and the name of yer ship (if ye don't have them already) then come back here and enter them into the comments section of this post.  I want to know who me pirate maties are, arrr!

And finally, for Facebookers like yours truly, here's the Official Facebook Page for Talk Like a Pirate Day.  The party's already started over there, so git to it!

Cheers!
Patty (tomorrow, Crazy Cap'n Patty the Fashionably Late)