Arrr!!! Performing Piracy
15
International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a phenomenon, perhaps possible on
such a scale only in the digital age. It has become a worldwide event that taps
into something that speaks to many people in the camivalesque spirit. Mark
Summers and John Baur were able to take advantage of the idea and develop it
into something that has taken on a life of its own. They did not plan this, but
nevertheless worked hard to establish it. When I contacted OT Chumbucket
about doing an interview for this paper, he said “Happy to stake my claim to
academic respectability” (Baur, E-mail 6 Apr.). I hope that I have helped in this
endeavor. To quote from one of the earliest comic treatments of pirates, Gilbert
and Sullivan’s The Pirates o f Penzance^ “At length we are provided, with
unusual facility, to change piratic crime for dignified respectability” {Pirates). I
hope that I have at least, to a small extent, helped with that change. For those
who study pop culture, it is often difficult to justify or explain one’s work to
those who are used to more traditional academic research. Reactions can often
range from dubiousness to disbelief to outright dismissal. Nevertheless, pop
culture phenomena like International Talk Like a Pirate Day are important
trends in the modem world, worthy of serious, if sometimes playful, study. To
those who have difficulty accepting things like Talk Like a Pirate Day as
something that belongs on the academic ship of state, I say “Prepare to be
boarded! Arrr!”
Radford University
Matthew R. Turner
Works Cited
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Baur, John. “Re: Pirate Day Interview.” Message to the author. 6 Apr. 2011. E-mail.
—. “Re: Pirate Day Interview.” Message to the author. 11 Apr. 2011. E-mail.
—. Personal interview. 8 Apr. 2011.
Baur, John and Mark Summers. “Talk Like a Pirate Day: The Five A’s.” Official Wench.
Youtube.com. 3 Jul. 2006. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.
Barry, Dave. “Arrrrr! Talk Like a Pirate - Or Prepare to be Boarded.” The Miami Herald.
8 Sept. 2002. Web. 14 Sept. 2011.
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Linda Ronstadt, George Rose, Rex Smith, and Tony Azito. Universal, 1983.
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Summers, Mark. Personal interview. 7 Apr. 2011.
West, Richard. Introduction. In Defoe, Daniel. A General History of the Robberies and
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“Why Talk Like a Pirate - and How.” talklikeapirate.com. TalkLikeAPirate.com. n.d.
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