Talk Like a Pirate Day :: September 19

Avast! September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, mateys. So polish your brass, haul on your yardarms, and get ready to walk the plank as a pirate would. Arrrrgh!

Talk Like a Pirate Day started obscurely in 1995 due to the inspiration of two guys--John Baur and Mark Summers--but the day went big time when nationally syndicated columnist Dave Barry embraced the annual holiday.

And why does nHumanities advocate talking like pirates? America's illustrators of the golden age (1870-1965) had a brilliant history of illustrating pirate stories and books. (Above right, the cover of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, illustrated by N. C. Wyeth, 1911; below left, Howard Pyle, The Flying Dutchman, 1902, illustration from "North Folk Legends of the Sea," Harper's Monthly Magazine, January 1902.)

American magazine illustration enjoyed a celebrated period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when beloved illustrators were the stars of their time and households anxiously awaited their next offerings. Some of the names from this period remain familiar: Howard Pyle, Norman Rockwell, Rockwell Kent, Edward Gorey, Maxfield Parrish, N. C. Wyeth, Frederic Remington, John Held, Jr., and more. They worked for magazines such as McClure's, Harper's Monthly, Good Housekeeping, Saturday Evening Post, and Collier's.

What makes illustration different from other art genres? According to the National Museum of American Illustrators, three characteristics distinguish illustration:

1. American Illustration is an art form created to be reproduced, sometimes with accompanying text.
   
2. American Illustration manifests how Americans view themselves; it is both social and cultural history pictured.
3. American Illustration is a visual record which evokes responses from the audience of its day, from the audience of today, and from future audiences; it becomes increasingly valuable as a reservoir of cultural images and a chronicle of change. (The American Imagist Collection)

(07Sep05) Link to Flickr Photoset of all the illustrations from Howard Pyle's 1903 book of pirates.

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Links of Interest:

• National Museum of American Illustrators
• American Illustrators Gallery
• The complete text of Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main (1921), with illustrations
• The Wyeth illustrated Treasure Island online
• Dave Barry's column, "Arrrrr! Talk Like a Pirate--or Prepare to be Boarded" (08Sep02)
• How to Talk Like a Pirate (including risque pickup lines for advanced speakers)
  
• The lyrics of a Pirate Shanty sung to the tune of Month Python's "I'm a Lumberjack" (I'm a pirate! That I be! / I sail me ship upon the sea! . . .)
• The Original Talk Like a Pirate Site