Pirate Speak
Pirates never say anything in an ordinary way. Everything is always better and bolder when
talking like a pirate!! Here are some clues:
Double up on all your adjectives and you'll be bountifully bombastic with your phrasing. Pirates
never speak of "a big ship," they call it a "great, grand ship!" They never say never, they say "No
nay ne'er!"
Drop all your "g"s when you speak and you'll get words like "rowin'", "sailin'" and "fightin'."
Dropping all of your "v"s will get you words like "ne'er", "e'er" and "o'er."
Ne'er speak in anythin' but the present tense! Instead of saying "I am," sailors say, "I be."
Instead of saying "You are", sailors say, "You be." Instead of saying, "They are," sailors say,
"They be."
If it be helpin', start yer sentence wi' a "Arr, me hearty," in a deep, throaty voice — ye'll find that
the rest be comin' much easier.
Want to talk like a pirate and impress the crew and passengers of the Jolly Roger? Here are some words and phrases you can use while on your Pirate cruise.
- "About the leaks!": an order to fix the leaks in the hull
- Ahoy: Hey!
- Arrr: Yes, I agree, I'm happy
- Avast: Stop!
- Aye: Yes
- Booty: treasure
- Buccanneer: a pirate who be answerin' to no man or blasted government.
- By the Powers!: an exclamation, uttered by Long John Silver in Treasure Island!
- Code of conduct: a set of rules that told pirates how they should behave
- Doubloons: pieces of gold...
- Furner: a ship which be yer own, not one ye steal an' plunder.
- Galleon: a large ship, usually with three masts and square sails
- Galley: a ship that uses oars to move Gentlemen o' fortune: a slightly more positive term fer
pirates! - Harbor: a place where ships are sheltered from rough waves
- Hornpipe: Both a single-reeded musical instrument sailors often had aboard ship, and a spirited
dance that sailors do. - Jack: a flag or a sailor
- Jolly Roger: the skull and crossbones, the pirate flag!
- “Land ho!”: “I see land”
- Landlubber: "Land-lover," someone not used to life onboard a ship.
- Lass: A woman.
- Maroon: to leave someone on a deserted island
- Matey: A shipmate or a friend.
- Me hearty: a friend or shipmate.
- Me: My
- Merchantman: a trading ship loaded with cargo
- Mock trial: a game in which pirates pretend to be judges, lawyers and prisoners in a courtroom
- Pardon: to excuse a person's crimes
- Pieces o' eight: pieces o' silver which can be cut into eights to be givin' small change.
- Pillory: a wooden frame with holes to hold a person's head and hands
- Pistol: a gun that is held in one hand
- Port: a sailor's word for “left.”
- Privateer: a pirate officially sanctioned by a national power
- Prize: a captured ship
- Schooner: a ship with triangular sails and two or more masts
- Sea legs: as soon as sailors were able to walk easily across the rolling deck and not get
seasick, they had their "sea legs" - Shiver me timbers!: an exclamation of surprise, to be shouted most loud.
- Sloop: a sailboat with a single mast and two sails.
- Smartly: do something quickly.
- Squadron: a group of 10 or fewer warships
- Squiffy: a buffoon
- Starboard: a sailor's word for “right”
- "Swab the deck!": "mop the ship's deck
- Swaggy: a scurvy cur's ship what ye be intendin' to loot!
- Swashbucklin': fightin' and carousin' on the high seas!
- Sweet trade: the career of piracy
- Thar: The opposite of "here."
- Walk the plank: this one be obvious.
- “Weigh anchor!”: “Haul up the anchor and set sail!”
- Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter
