Word Pirates

September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day! In honor of that, I give you a ridiculous picture of a man who is obviously not a pirate along with some pirate lingo.

Here is some good pirate vocabulary for you to sprinkle into your conversations on this special day:

Ahoy! - “Hello!”

Avast! - Stop and give attention.

Aye! - “Why yes, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did.”

Arrr! - Can mean, variously,”yes,” “I agree,” “I’m happy,” “I’m enjoying this beer,” “My team is going to win it all,” “I saw that television show, it sucked!” and “That was a clever remark you or I just made.” And those are just a few of the myriad possibilities of Arrr!

Bilge rat – The bilge is the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast and slimy, reeking water. A bilge rat, then, is a rat that lives in the worst place on the ship.

Bung hole – Victuals on a ship were stored in wooden casks. The stopper in the barrel is called the bung, and the hole is called the bung hole. That’s all. It sounds a lot worse, doesn’t it? “Well, me hearties, let’s see what crawled out of the bung hole.”
Grog – An alcoholic drink, usually rum diluted with water, but in this context you could use it to refer to any alcoholic beverage other than beer, and we aren’t prepared to be picky about that, either.
Lubber – (or land lubber) This is the seaman’s version of land lover, mangled by typical pirate disregard for elocution. A lubber is someone who does not go to sea, who stays on the land.

Smartly – Do something quickly. “Smartly, me lass,” you might say when sending the bar maid off for another round. She will be so impressed she might well spit in your beer.

(From the Talk Like a Pirate Day website, which also includes pirate pickup lines such as “Ya’ know darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free” and others that include puns on the word “booty.” –Marcia