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Popular Culture Review
Beyond giving pirate aficionados a center of focus on the web site, they
have also produced several videos (like the one described earlier) on how to talk
like a pirate, behave like one, misbehave like one, and the like. They have done
numerous television and radio interviews, typically dozens each year around the
day, written articles for pirate magazines, written some books, and even made
personal appearances {Original). They have also moved into social medial
online beyond just their website. They have a Facebook Page, a Flickr page, and
a twitter account for Pirate-themed Haikus (or “Pi-Kus” as they are called)
{Original). Cap’n Slappy said of Twitter, “I know that on Twitter, for the last
two years since I’ve been on Twitter, I think this year it was 5 of the top 10
categories in different ways on Talk Like a Pirate Day. It trends pretty heavily”
(Summers). It has come to a point, however, where it is self-perpetuating. OF
Chumbucket told me, “the whole thing has taken on a life of its own and if we
just walked away from the website tomorrow, there would still be a Talk Like a
Pirate Day this September and there would still be a Talk Like a Pirate Day next
September. The fact that it no longer needs us is, I think, the biggest sign of its
success” (Baur, Interview).
For pirates, both of the men are quite humble about the immense success of
the holiday. Cap’n Slappy said, “I was in awe and still am a little bit. I had no
idea where all of this would go and how big it would become” (Summers). 01’
Chumbucket stated, “No we’re not celebrities. We’re like curiosities. . . . We
were completely taken by surprise. We had no idea. ‘Shock’ I think is an
excellent word for how we felt,” (Baur, Interview). Cap’n Slappy said, “This is
one of those things you can’t really prepare for. It’s one of those serendipitous
events that kind of comes out of left field and either you’re ready for the wave or
you’re not” (Summers). Part of riding the wave is how well you do it, which
brings us to our next “P.”
4. Performance
J. L. Austin, in his Philosophical Papers, talks about performative
utterances. These are utterances, different from statements that perform
something in the saying of it. He gives examples such as saying “I do” to get
married (Austin 222). While Talk Like a Pirate Day does not directly fall into
the category of performative utterances, it does share some of the same
characteristics and overturns some of the concepts of performative utterances in
interesting ways. Austin talks about the act of betting as an example. If I offer to
bet money on something and no one takes me up on the offer then it really is not
a bet (Austin 224). I would submit that for our purpose a performance requires
the agreement of other parties or their involvement. They need to accept that we
are talking like pirates and performing in a certain way.
Another important element of his discussion of performatives is convention.
Austin states, “The first rule is, then that the convention invoked must exist and
be accepted. And the second rule, also a very obvious one, is that the
circumstances in which we purport to invoke this procedure must be appropriate
for its invocation” (Austin 224). In the case of Talk Like a Pirate Day we are