International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is 15 years old this year (technically that makes this one the 16th). For something that started as kind of a joke between a couple of guys playing racquetball, this has really taken off. It helps that three of the decade's most successful movies featured pirates but I think that they tapped into a societal need to play at being a pirate. Even before the movies several Renaissance festivals included pirates and some had become full-blown pirate festivals.

Of course, what really got the ball rolling was the Dave Barry column. At the time, Barry was the country's leading comedy columnist. There was even a sit-com based on his books. Barry's column got the word out to the world. I remember reading it in 2003. In 2004 I wore a pirate T-shirt on ITLAPD. I also wore a pirate T-shirt in 2007 and people stopped me on the street (of Charleston, SC) to tell me that it was Talk Like a Pirate Day (Why do you think I'm wearing the T-shirt?).

We are having a pirate weekend on the Santa Maria. The event got mentioned in the local papers because of ITLAPD. Lots of kids show up in pirate hats or wearing an eye patch (usually pushed up to the forehead).

The weather forecast for the weekend is perfect so it should be a good event.