Pic(k) of the Week: Aargh!

Aargh! Missed it by 7 days. September 19th was International Speak Like a Pirate Day.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day (ITLAPD) is a parodic holiday created in 1995 by John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy), of Albany, Oregon,[1] U.S., who proclaimed September 19 each year as the day when everyone in the world should talk like a pirate.[1] For example, an observer of this holiday would greet friends not with "Hello," but with "Ahoy, me hearty!" The holiday, and its observance, springs from a romanticized view of the Golden Age of Piracy. <...>

Actor Robert Newton, who portrayed Long John Silver in the 1950 Disney film Treasure Island and then in the 1954 film Long John Silver, is described as the "patron saint" of Talk Like A Pirate Day. Newton was a native of Dorset, and it was his native West Country dialect, which he used in his portrayal of Long John Silver and Blackbeard, that has become the standard "pirate accent".

More from Talk Like a Pirate

The pirate lass above was stylin' with a Heavy Seas (Clipper City Brewing) eyepatch at the August 2008 Brew at the Zoo at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.

The annual outdoor festival is a charity fundraiser, organized by the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ), featuring the beers of over 20 breweries and food from as many restaurants.