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Talk Like a Pirate Day2028 Countdown
Tuesday, September 19, 2028
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About Talk Like a Pirate Day
Talk Like a Pirate Day casts off every September 19, inviting the world to swap normal speech for arrrs, mateys, and generous doses of nautical nonsense. It is a holiday with no gifts, no feasts, and no historical significance whatsoever, which is precisely its charm. For one day a year, grown adults can say avast in a meeting and blame the calendar.
The day was created in 1995 by two friends from Albany, Oregon, John Baur and Mark Summers, better known by their pirate personas, Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy. During a racquetball game, one of them reacted to an injury with an involuntary pirate exclamation, and the idea of a full day dedicated to pirate speech was born. The observance stayed a private in-joke until syndicated columnist Dave Barry wrote about it in 2002, launching it into international attention.
Celebrations range from harmless to elaborate: friends greet each other in pirate dialect, workplaces hold costume contests, and pubs run themed drinks. Some charities use the day for fundraisers, and a certain keyboard-playing educational website famously awards a discount for pirate-speak. The rules are simple: commit to the bit, and stop on September 20.
History of Talk Like a Pirate Day
On June 6, 1995, during a racquetball game in Albany, Oregon, John Baur let out a pirate cry after getting hurt, or, depending on the retelling, simply started talking like a pirate mid-game. He and his friend Mark Summers realized a day of collective pirate talk would be enormous fun and chose September 19, Summers's ex-wife's birthday, as the date. For seven years it remained a joke between two friends and their circle.
That changed in 2002, when humor columnist Dave Barry devoted a column to the holiday, describing it as the kind of absurd idea that made the internet worth having. The column spread worldwide, media appearances followed, and the founders leaned in, writing books and maintaining the observance under their pirate names. Few holidays can claim a documented birth date, a founding racquetball injury, and a Pulitzer-winning publicist.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- When is Talk Like a Pirate Day?
- It is celebrated every September 19, a date chosen because it is co-founder Mark Summers's ex-wife's birthday.
- Is Talk Like a Pirate Day a public holiday?
- No, it is a purely unofficial joke holiday, which is exactly the point.
- How do people celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day?
- People speak in pirate dialect, hold costume contests, order grog-themed drinks, and sometimes earn discounts from businesses that honor the occasion.
- Who created Talk Like a Pirate Day?
- John Baur and Mark Summers, known as Ol' Chumbucket and Cap'n Slappy, started it in 1995; Dave Barry's 2002 column made it famous.