Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. In two thousand two,
Speaker 1: syndicated columnist Dave Barry wrote an article that changed our world.
Speaker 1: He revealed that John Bauer and Mark Summers, two guys
Speaker 1: who enjoyed playing racquetball, discovered that the game was much
Speaker 1: more fun if everyone spoke in stereotypical pirates slang. And
Speaker 1: then they extrapolated that the world would be much more
Speaker 1: fun if everyone's spoke in stereotypical pirate slang. So they
Speaker 1: designated a day for it September nineteen, and appealed to
Speaker 1: Barry to spread the good word about Talk Like a
Speaker 1: Pirate Day, and Barry did. He wrote, you have the buckles,
Speaker 1: darn it, don't be afraid to swash them. And with
Speaker 1: those wise words, a tradition was born. Chances are you've
Speaker 1: seen evidence of talk like a Pirate Day. Social media
Speaker 1: hosts a plethora of pirate puns. National chains like Long
Speaker 1: John Silver's and less thematically Crispy Cream offer free items
Speaker 1: to folks and costume it's the one day a year
Speaker 1: that the word are is considered an acceptable alternative to yeah.
Speaker 1: But did pirates really talk like that the answer is
Speaker 1: not really. Our concept of piratical speech stems mainly from
Speaker 1: a series of memorable performances by the actor Robert Newton.
Speaker 1: He appeared in several films and TV shows as a pirate,
Speaker 1: playing such characters as Long John Silver in the nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty Disney adaptation of Treasure Island. Now we did a
Speaker 1: shame to see you in such ill condition perch Kim
Speaker 1: a drop round to worm as Billy as he passes over,
Speaker 1: and the dreaded Edward Teach better known as black Beard
Speaker 1: in two is black Beard the Pirate? Now? What kind
Speaker 1: of a fool you think I be? Newton was born
Speaker 1: in Dorset, England. Dorset is in the West Country, the
Speaker 1: southwest corner of Britain. The dialect in that region contains
Speaker 1: many of the elements we associate with pirate speech. Each
Speaker 1: For example, it's common to hear a hard are in
Speaker 1: words spoken by people from the West Country. Newton's performances
Speaker 1: became iconic. It didn't take long before his West Country
Speaker 1: accent became the de facto pirates speech. You can hear's
Speaker 1: influence in performances like Tim Curry's Long John Silver in
Speaker 1: Muppet Treasure Island him. That's what you're thinking. You're dead wrong.
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Rush's Captain Barbosa in Pirates of the Caribbean, I
Speaker 1: care not for your Tavanians, give hope, limb that give
Speaker 1: me left for chance of black Beard, and even the
Speaker 1: Simpsons Captain McAllister portrayed by Hankers Area six spells, time
Speaker 1: for closing and talk eating fairly warned Beaty says I. Scholars, however,
Speaker 1: don't think his portrayal was particularly accurate. It's hard to
Speaker 1: be certain. We don't have many historical accounts of actual
Speaker 1: pirate speech. The Golden Age of piracy predates recording by
Speaker 1: more than a century. Pirates also didn't have a habit
Speaker 1: of writing much down Many were likely illiterate. Most of
Speaker 1: those who did write were educated before turning to their
Speaker 1: roguish lifestyle, so they're written accounts aren't much different from
Speaker 1: those of other educated people at the time. It might
Speaker 1: be more appropriate to call September ninete talk like Robert
Speaker 1: Newton day. But while it may not be historically accurate
Speaker 1: to yell, shiver me timbers or walk the plank, don't
Speaker 1: let that stop you from having a good time. Today's
Speaker 1: episode was written by Jonathan Strickland and produced by Tyler Klang.
Speaker 1: You can find brain Stuff merchandise at t public dot
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Speaker 1: this and lots of other swashbuckling topics at our home planet,
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