101 Amazing Facts about Pirates by Jack Goldstein

Author:Jack Goldstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: pirate, sea, piracy, blackbeard, learn, fun, facts, education, arrr, blackbeard, Jack Sparrow, caribbean, jamaica, port royal, Long John Silver, Treasure Island, Captain Hook, Treasure
ISBN: 9781783335282
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2014-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

Oliver Levasseur’s cryptogram

Pirate Talk

Every year, you can celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th of September.

The phrases “Avast me hearties”, “Yo-ho-ho” and “Matey” were introduced into the common lexicon by fiction writer Robert Louis Stevenson in his 1883 novel Treasure Island.

The exclamation “Arrrr!” was actually invented by an actor by the name of Robert Newton when he starred in the 1950 film version of Treasure Island.

Most pirates didn’t talk in the accent you probably suspect - again, the accent was used by Newton for the film, and was so popular it became part of the pirate mythos!

The phrase “Davy Jones’ Locker” is a real nautical term dating back to the 1700s. Davy Jones was how sailors referred to the Devil, and being sent to his locker meant you were to be killed and would not be going to heaven!

Keel-hauling is a particularly cruel and brutal punishment. This involved being tied to a rope, thrown overboard and being dragged underneath the ship then brought up on the other side. As the hull would be covered in tough barnacles, the punishment would usually result in serious injury or even death.

The phrase ‘Blimey’ is an exclamation of surprise thought to originate at sea.

If a pirate were to talk about spending his money in a house of ill-repute, he would talk about “cracking Jenny’s tea cup”!

If you’ve had too much grog, your fellow pirates might describe you as being “loaded to the gunwalls”.

There is a phrase still used today which is “to swing the lead” - this refers to someone who is lazy or a slacker. This comes from the nautical job of measuring the depth of the sea when near land, which required a lead weight to be swung in the water. It was considered a particularly easy job, hence the development of the meaning today.

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