Yo, ho, ho! International Talk Like a Pirate Day is upon us!
Captain Henry Morgan was a big deal long before he landed the gig of a lifetime as mascot of the Captain Morgan brands of spiced rum and spirits. As a Welsh privateer who fought for the English against the Spanish in the Caribbean in the 17th century, he amassed huge fleets and great wealth in raids along the Spanish Main. He was knighted by King Charles II of England and died a rich man in Jamaica.
Disney Junior's Captain Jake is all the rage with the pre-tween set. Based on Disney's Peter Pan franchise, "Captain Jake and the Never Land Pirates" follows the adventures of Jake and his young band of pirates as they battle Captain Hook and Mr. Smee for treasure.
Hollywood loves pirates. Dustin Hoffman delighted audiences as the titular character in "Hook," the 1991 film suggesting Peter Pan should have stuck to his plan to never grow up. When Captain Hook kidnaps his children, an adult Peter Pan played by Robin Williams must return to Neverland and reclaim his youthful spirit to challenge his old enemy.
Does it get more pirate camp than Johnny Depp channeling Keith Richards to play Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean"? The successful film franchise, based on a Walt Disney World ride of the same name, has been going strong since 2003's "The Curse of the Black Pearl." The fifth installment, "Dead Men Tell No Tales" is set to hit theaters in July 2017.
Actor Geoffrey Rush plays Sparrow's rival Captain Hector Barbossa in "Pirates of the Caribbean." Once a ferocious pirate and deadly enemy of Sparrow, Barbossa enters an uneasy alliance with his rival.
"Davy Jones' Locker" is a nautical idiom for the bottom of the sea often used in the context of sailors and ships lost at sea. The origins of the name Davy Jones are unclear but for the "Pirates of Caribbean" franchise, Jones became the supernatural ruler of the Seven Seas as the condemned captain of the Flying Dutchman.
Blackbeard, whose real name is thought to be Edward Teach, was a notorious English pirate. With his crew, he terrorized merchant ships in the Atlantic and the Caribbean in the early 18th century, a period known as the Golden Age of Piracy. The quintessential pirate, Blackbeard is a recurring character in pop culture, most recently in season 4 of the Starz television series "Black Sails."
Long John Silver also appears in "Black Sails," but the peg-legged pirate made his debut in the Robert Louis Stevenson novel "Treasure Island." Typically seen with a parrot on his shoulder, Long John Silver is another recurring character in pop culture, including the 1950 film "Treasure Island," played by actor Robert Newton.
Musician and restauranteur Jimmy Buffett embodies the swashbuckling spirit of a pirate with his bold entrepreneurial ventures and Margaritaville approach to downtime. Plus, his fans are known as parrotheads.
Cary Elwes played Wesley in "The Princess Bride." He was also known as the Dread Pirate Roberts, a title he was given by the previous Dread Pirate Roberts when he retired.
Jason Momoa, who will soon be playing Aquaman, appeared as pirate Jean Lafitte, who helped Andrew Jackson liberate New Orleans from the British, in a recent episode of Comedy Central's "Drunk History."
Actor Alan Tudyk as Steve the Pirate in the movie "DodgeBall."
(CNN)Aye maties, 'tis the day we've all been waiting for: International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
But avast! Before you grab your grog and parrot, let's get ye educated!
The idea for the day was born in 1995 on a YMCA racquetball court in Albany, Oregon. John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur and his friend Mark "Cap'n Slappy" Summers began throwing around insults, just like pirates.
They selected September 19, simply because Summers had recently divorced, it was his ex-wife's birthday, and he figured "the date was stuck in my head, and I wasn't going to do anything with it anymore," he told CNN in 2009.
But it wasn't until humorist Dave Barry caught wind of the idea and threw his support behind it in a September 2002 Miami Herald column that this rickety ship took sail.
"As the name suggests, this is a day on which everybody would talk like a pirate. Is that a great idea, or what?" Barry wrote back then. "There are so many practical benefits that I can't even begin to list them all."
The endorsement launched a full-fledged movement that seems to grow each year. Here are some ways to get in on the action:
Speak like a scurvy pirate (on social media)
Yes, you can "update your plunderin," or manage your "grog fests" on Facebook in the ultimate test of pirate literacy. Go to settings and then language and select English (Pirate) in the drop-down menu.
Pro tip: Use a pirate translator website, such as SpeakPirate, to know what you're actually saying.
Put grub in ye gullet
Time was, aspiring buccaneers who talked like a pirate got a free glazed doughnut at some Krispy Kreme locations. Those who went the extra mile and dressed like a pirate got a dozen free glazed doughnuts. That's not happening anymore.
But at participating Long John Silver's outlets, you can hook a deep-fried Twinkie by talking like a pirate. If you dress like a pirate, you'll get a free fish & fry.
Find ye pirate moniker
No made-up holiday in the digital age would be complete without a pirate name generator, and there are plenty of them. This one seems to work pretty well.
Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day! And don't forget to roll your R's! Arrrrgh!
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