‘Ahoy, Matey!’ THE ORIGIN OF PIRATE TALK
How Disney Started It All
Talk Like a Pirate Day on Sept. 19 has been a favorite silly holiday since it was created in 1995. But while it’s an opportunity for vloggers, radio hosts, and everyday people alike to let loose with a few hearty shouts of “arrrr,” the holiday certainly raises a couple of questions …
Modern “pirate speak” can actually be traced back to a single movie: the live-action Disney movie of the 1950s, “Treasure Island,” starring Robert Newton as fictional pirate Long John Silver. Woodard explained, “Newton’s performance — full of ‘arrs,’ ‘shiver me timbers,’ and references to ‘landlubbers’ — not only stole the show, but it also permanently shaped pop culture’s vision of how pirates looked, acted, and spoke.”
Did pirates really talk like that? And why do we think they do?
The truth is that nobody really knows what a typical Caribbean pirate sounded like. Historian Colin Woodard, author of “The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down,” told National Geographic, “There isn’t much in the way of scientific evidence in regards to pirate speech.” No audio recordings of pirate speech exist, and most witnesses have only written down small sets of quotes from pirates. Pirates didn’t really write, either. There’s “almost nothing written by pirates themselves, with the exception of educated people who ‘went pirate’ and, therefore, probably didn’t exhibit pirate speech patterns,” Woodard said. Our best guess? Many scholars suspect that English-speaking Golden Age pirates must have spoken exactly the same as English-speaking merchant sailors of the time. After all, large numbers in both groups tended to be from riverfront neighborhoods around London.
After that movie, “Newtonesque” pirates were seen everywhere, from Captain Hook to Captain McCallister of “The Simpsons.” Still, there is a little truth in some pirate phrases. Not unlike the Canadian “eh,” “arr” was an affirmation in the English West Country during the early 20th century. Some phrases, such as “me hearties,” were simply universal 18th-century nautical terms. Although “pirate speak” today is mostly Hollywood magic, it’s still fun! Give it a try this September, and we’re sure it’ll make you smile — even if the true pirate dialect is much more mysterious.
It’s Unbelievably True!
THE CRAZIEST OLYMPIC MARATHON OF 1904
Three hours and 13 minutes after the marathon began, Fred Lorz, who had ridden a third of the course in a car, crossed the finish line. He was about to be adorned with a floral wreath when he confessed he had gotten so tired that he accepted a ride from one of the cars along the way, so he was disqualified. Thomas Hicks, the true winner, was struggling with just 7 more miles to go. His fans on the sidelines provided him with a secret energy booster mix — a concoction containing strychnine (rat poison), brandy, and egg whites. By the time he crossed the finish line, he was hallucinating. And the fourth-place winner from Cuba wore dress pants and shoes for the entire race (because he lost his money gambling in New Orleans on his way to St. Louis and arrived after hitchhiking with nothing but the clothes on his back!).
In 1904, the year of America’s first Olympics, the men’s marathon was a bizarre spectacle to behold. In fact, it was likely the most jaw-dropping event ever in the history of the Olympic Games. On that hot, sweltering summer day in St. Louis, MO, only 14 of the 32 Olympic competitors crossed the finish line on what was deemed the most difficult course anyone was ever asked to undertake. Thomas Hicks, the American who actually came in first, received the slowest time of all of the Olympic marathons since 1896. But why was this one so tough? With temperatures of roughly 104 degrees F and 90% humidity, a rigorous 24.85-mile course with seven hills was a bit much for competitors. Not to mention, support cars were churning up dust, leaving it behind for the runners to inhale, and they only had two water stations available before the halfway mark — and none in the second half! Even seasoned runners were not up to this crazy course!
This 1904 Olympic marathon went down in history as the most bizarre and wildly entertaining race. Luckily, but surprisingly, nobody died!
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