Rehearsing wi' a wanion

September 19th is my mother's birthday. It's also Karamah's birthday and Elaine's father's birthday. September 19th is a good day!














But I didn't know it was International Talk Like a Pirate Day til it was too late, alas!

It turns out that the reason I'd never heard of it was that two complete loonies, John Baur and Mark Summers, only started it this year - tho' it's been yeeeeeeears in the makin', aharr! Way to go, guys!

We read through the panto script yesterday afternoon, and then we pirates went back for more yo ho ho in the evening. We were doing just fine til we got to 'wi' a wanion'. Eh? I thought it was a really gross boil, but no - 'wi' a wanion' means wi' a vengeance (aharr!!).

Furthermore, the script calls for some piratey cursing, and we were at a bit of a loss, what with being fine, upstanding citizens of delicate breeding, so I was so grateful when Trailing Spouse left a link in a comment to the Captain Pugwash site, where I had lots of fun, before doing a little more browsing.

Which took me to the following Wikipedia Pugwashisms :

"Dollopping doubloons!"
"Coddling catfish!"
"Lolloping landlubbers!"
"Suffering seagulls!"
"Staggering stalactites!"
"Nautical nitwits!"
"Plundering porpoises!"
"Kipper me capstans!"
"Tottering turtles!"

Obviously, I was shocked, what with my delicate breeding 'n' all, but, for the sake of Art, I have wrestled with my feelings, and resolved to share these terms with my fellow thespians.

But I'd better not direct them to the TLAP site, for fear of the moral depredation which exposure to piratey pick-up lines such as the following might wreak upon their characters:

Come on up and see me urchins.

and

I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.

(for the boys)

.................and for the girls:

Come show me how ye bury yer treasure, lad!

and

C'mon, lad, shiver me timbers!

Shocking really.

On the other hand, if we all do our homework, next year's International Talk Like a Pirate Day could be a blast! Here's a little something to get you started:

.........................and if you want some more, there's plenty here!

Arrrr!

P.S. Even Word Verification's getting into it. What to make of himshggp?