Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day from everyone at Pastiche!!!
Remember to stop by to pick up your very own pirate eye patch so you can not only talk like a pirate, but look like one too! (Hooks, wooden legs, parrots, and swords we don’t have so you’ll have to come up with those on your own.)
In order to help you sound more authentic when talking like a pirate, here’s some helpful pirate phrases:
Landlubber - a sailor’s name for someone who has never been at sea
“Shiver me timbers!” - an expression of surprise
Buccaneer - a kind of pirate that sailed the Caribbean in the 1600’s
Port - a sailor’s word for “left”
Starboard - a sailor’s word for “right”
“Yo ho ho!” - an expression used by jolly pirates
“Land ho!” - “I see land”
Scurvy - a disease caused by lack of vitamin C
“Weigh anchor!” - “Haul up the anchor and set sail!”
Merchantman - a trading ship loaded with cargo
Prize - a captured ship
Sea legs - as soon as sailors were able to walk easily across the rolling deck and not get seasick, they had their “sea legs”
“Swab the deck!” - “mop the ship’s deck
“about the leaks!” - an order to fix the leaks in the hull
Barnacle - a small shellfish that attaches itself to underside of the ship
Broadside - a blast from all the guns and cannons on one side of a ship
Calico - brightly colored cotton fabric
Careen - to pull a ship onto its side in order to clean its hull
Cargo - the goods carried by a ship
Code of conduct - a set of rules that told pirates how they should behave
Deserted - describing a place where no people live
Duel - a fight between two people armed with swords or pistols
Figurehead - a carving of a person, usually of wood, on the front of a ship
Galleon - a large ship, usually with three masts and square sails
Galley - a ship that uses oars to move
Harbor - a place where ships are sheltered from rough waves
Maroon - to leave someone on a deserted island
Mock trial - a game in which pirates pretend to be judges, lawyers and prisoners in a courtroom
Pardon - to excuse a person’s crimes
Pillory - a wooden frame with holes to hold a person’s head and hands
Pistol - a gun that is held in one hand
Privateer - a pirate loyal to the king, queen, or government of a country
Schooner - a ship with triangular sails and two or more masts
Sloop - a sailboat with a single mast and two sails.
And, as promised, here’s the Pirates Creed of Ethics.
Ye Captain shall have full command during the time of engagement, and shall have authority at all other times to conduct the ship accordingly. He who disobeys him may be punished unless the majority vote against the punishment.
If ye Captain’s vessel is shipwrecked, the crew pledges to remain until he has possessed himself of a vessel. If the vessel is the common property of the crew, the first vessel captured shall belong to ye Captain with one share of the spoil.
Ye ship’s surgeon shall have two hundred crowns for the maintenance of his medicine chest and he shall receive one part of the spoil.
Ye other officers will receive each single part, and if ye distinguish yourself, the crew will determine how much reward to be given to ye.
Ye spoil taken from a captured ship is to be distributed in equal portion.
Ye who shall be the first to signal the appearance of the vessel that is captured, shall receive 100 hundred crowns.
If ye lose an eye, or a hand or leg in ye said service, ye shall receive up to six slaves or six hundred crowns.
Ye supplies and rations are to be shared equally.
If ye introduce on board a woman in disguise, ye shall be punished to death.
If one Brother steals from another, his nose or ears are to be cut off. If he sins again, he is to be given a musket, bullets, lead and a bottle of water and marooned on an island.
If there is any doubt in a dispute between ye Brothers, a court of honor is to decide the verdict. If a Brother is proved in the wrong, the first time he shall be pardoned, but should he offend again, he shall be tied to a gun, and there shall receive from each of the ship’s company one strike of the lash. The same punishment shall be given to ye among us, including officers, who shall get drunk, while on the ship, to the point of losing ye senses.
Whoever shall be placed on sentry, and upon his post shall go to sleep, shall in the first case be lashed by all the Brothers, and should he again offend, his head shall be split.
All ye who shall plot to desert, or having deserted shall be captured, shall have ye heads split open.
Quarrels between several Brothers whilst aboard ye ship shall be settled ashore with pistol and sword. He that draws first blood shall be the victor. No striking another whilst aboard ye ship.
