International Talk Like a Pirate Day 2025: How The Blue Pearl brought clarity to the chaos of life at sea

International Talk Like a Pirate Day started as an in-joke between Oregon friends John Baur (Ol’ Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap’n Slappy). While playing racquetball on June 6 1995, an injury prompted a spontaneous “Arrr!”—and the pair decided the world deserved a whole day of pirate lingo. They picked September 19 because it was Summers’ ex-wife’s birthday—an easy date to remember that didn’t conflict with other major observances.

For seven years, the holiday sailed under the radar until the duo emailed Pulitzer-winning humorist Dave Barry. His syndicated 2002 column catapulted the event into pop-culture fame, turning September 19 into a global celebration that brands, schools, and social platforms now recognize every year.

Authentic pirate patter leans on three pillars: lexicon, grammar tweaks, and delivery. Swap standard pronouns for salty equivalents—“me” for my, “ye” for you, and sprinkle in power words like “Arrr,” “Avast,” and “Aye-aye” to confirm commands.

Pirates also ditch precise grammar; replacing is/are with be (“The treasure be ours!”) instantly roughens your syntax while echoing old West Country speech rhythms.

Tone matters as much as vocabulary. Roll your r’s, project confidently over imaginary sea squalls, and punctuate sentences with hearty laughs or growls.

A gravelly West Country accent—think Robert Newton’s Long John Silver—is the Hollywood gold standard, but any bold, booming cadence keeps the phrase “Talk Like a Pirate Day” front and center.

The simplest way to mark Talk Like a Pirate Day is conversational: greet colleagues with “Ahoy!” or sign emails “Fair winds.” Many businesses gamify the day—restaurants hand out freebies to anyone in pirate gear, and social networks un-lock hidden “pirate” language settings.

Level up by hosting a workplace treasure hunt, streaming classic swashbuckler films, or raising funds for maritime charities under a “plunder for good” banner.

Because the day thrives on user-generated content, encourage staff and customers to share photos using high-volume hashtags like **#TalkLikeAPateDay and #TLAPD.

At its core, Talk Like a Pirate Day is a parodic holiday—a light-hearted excuse for adults to play with language and step outside daily routines.

Unlike national commemorations that honor historic sacrifices, this micro-holiday celebrates communal fun, pop-culture nostalgia, and the enduring allure of Golden-Age piracy popularized by Stevenson’s Treasure Island and Hollywood adventure films.

Although secular in intent, the event doubles as a holy day for Pastafarianism, the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Pastafarians revere pirates as “original evangelists,” and September 19 is listed on official Pastafarian calendars as a core feast day. If you spot colanders alongside eye-patches, you’ve crossed paths with the noodly faithful.

Start with loose, billowy basics: a white poet shirt, dark trousers or a flowy skirt, and layer on a vest or frock coat for instant period flair. Accessories do the heavy lifting—add a wide sash or belt, tricorn hat or bandana, hoop earrings, and an eye patch to transform street clothes into deck-worthy attire. Opt for natural fabrics and weathered textures.

In pirate vernacular, “matey” simply means friend, crewmate, or trusted companion. It is the purest expression for maritime camaraderie.

Pirates hail each other with a resonant “Ahoy!”—a nautical call borrowed from 18th-century seafarers that later migrated into telephone etiquette before settling into pirate lore.

The stereotypical growl—packed with rolled r’s and West Country inflections—traces back to English actor Robert Newton. His exaggerated Dorset accent as Long John Silver in Disney’s 1950 Treasure Island and again in 1952’s Blackbeard the Pirate set the vocal template every swashbuckler has followed since. Newton’s delivery is so iconic that he’s jokingly called the “patron saint” of Talk Like a Pirate Day celebrations.

When your crew is scattered across the seven seas—or multiple retail locations—the best “pirate-proof” employee app is one that keeps ship-to-shore communication simple, even offline.

Flip’s mobile-first platform lets frontline teams share updates, access schedules, and send SOS messages faster than you can shout “man overboard.”

With multilingual chat, offline caching, and enterprise-grade security, Flip helps modern buccaneers (and landlubbers) stay aligned without walking the plank of email overload. Arrr-ganize your workforce, and your engagement metrics will be the real buried treasure.