Saturday, September 19, 2009

Avast ye,it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Call it inadequate promotion or just plain public ignorance,but most people do not realise that they have missed one of the best holidays ever thought of.Yesterday on the 19th of September,closet pirates all over the world celebrated International Talk Like A Pirate Day.Heck,there's even a Wikipedia page paying homage to it.

The holiday was created by long time friends John Baur (Ol' Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (Cap'n Slappy) in 1995 just for laughs.It was a result of an inside joke between them during a racquetball game,when one of them got injured and shouted "Arrrr". The game took place on the 6th of June.As they do not want to have their newly invented holiday to clash with the anniversary of D-Day,they moved the date to the 19th of September.Another reason was because it was Mark' wife's birthday,and he did not want to forget.

The holiday gained momentum when John and Mark sent a letter describing it to popular humour columnist Dave Barry.Dave loved it so much,he featured it in his next column.The media picked up on the story,providing coverage at first to US citizens,then globally.Which was why John and Mark added the word 'international' to the name.

The holiday has since been adopted as a major religious event by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.Wiki it,I know you want to.The holiday is also celebrated by notable companies like Google,which released a pirate themed homepage last year,and Facebook which allowed its members to choose the language option English (Pirate), which incorporated many pirate terms into the Facebook layout (for example, 'Write on Joe Smith's wall' became 'Scrawl on Joe Smith's plank').The site now offers the option year round. Malaysia unfortunately does not have this feature.

The holiday draws inspiration from pirate films and books like Treasure Island and Long John Silver.Like the characters,participants must talk or act the way a pirate does.The hardcore even go as far as dressing up in pirate gear.

So now that you are aware of such a thing,mark it in your calendar for next year.You do not want to miss out.Just don't mind the finger pointing and laughs when you step outside.



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