Ahoy Matey! Hosting a Pirate themed party? Well then you definitely need to brush up on your Pirate Speak! We’ve complied some tips and vocabulary to help you get into character.

Basic Tips

  • Double up on all your adjectives and you’ll be prefec’ly pi-riffic with your phrasing. Pirates never speak of “a big ship”, they call it a “grand, giant ship!” They never say never, they say “No nay, ne’er!”
  • Drop all your g’s: Examples: “rowin’”, “sailin’” and “fightin’”.
  • Drop all your v’s: Examples: “ne’er”, “e’er” and “o’er”.
  • Ne’er speak in anythin’ but the present tense. F’er example, instead of sayin’ “I am”, pirates say, “I be”.
  • To help you really get started, be’in yer sentence wi’ a “Arr, me hearty,” or “Argh me matey” in a throaty voice.

Pirate Vernacular – Shiver me timbers!

A
Ahoy: Hey!
Avast: Stop!
Aye: Yes

B
Black spot: to be ‘placin’ the black spot’ be markin’ someone for death
Booty: treasure
Buccanneer: a pirate who be answerin’ to no man or stinkin’ go’ernment
By the Powers!: an exclamation, uttered by Long John Silver in Treasure Island

C
Cat o’ nine tails: whip for floggin’ mutineers
Cutlass: short hea’y sword with a cur’ed blade

D
Davy Jones’ Locker: the bottom o’ the sea, where the souls of dead men lie
Doubloons: pieces of gold…

F
Fiddlers Green: the private heaven where pirates be goin’ when they die
Furner: a ship which be yer own, not one ye steal an’ plunder

G
Gentlemen o’ fortune: a slightly more positive term fer pirates!
Go on the account: to embark on a piratical cruise
Grog: Aye, a pirate’s fa’orite drink

H
Hornswaggle: Cheat

J
Jack: a flag or a sailor
Jolly Roger: the skull and crossbones, the pirate flag

K
Keelhaul: a vicious punishment where a body’s tied to a rope and dragged along the barnacle-encrusted bottom of a ship

L
Landlubber: “Land-lover,” someone not used to life onboard a ship
Lass: A woman
Lily-livered: faint o’ heart
Loaded to the Gunwales (pron. gunnels): drunk

M
Matey: A shipmate or a friend
Me hearty: a friend or shipmate
Me: My

P
Pieces o’ eight: pieces o’ silver which can be cut into eights to be givin’ small change.
Privateer: a pirate officially sanctioned by a national power

S
Salmagundi: a dish of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions and anything else the cook can throw in; a piratical delicacy
Scallywag: A scoundrel
Scurvy dog!: an insult
Shiver me timbers!: an exclamation of surprise
Sprogs: raw, untrained recruits
Squadron: a group of ten or less warships
Squiffy: a buffoon
Swaggy: a ship ye be intendin’ to loot!
Swashbucklin’: fightin’ and carousin’ on the high seas!
Sweet trade: the career of piracy

T
Thar: The opposite of here

W
Waister: an incompetant sailor
Walk the plank: just as it sounds – into the sea for y’e!
Wench: a lady
Wi’ a wannion: wi’ a curse, or wi’ a vengeance

Y
Ye: The
Y’er: Your
Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter

Do y’got what it takes to be a pirate? Yo-ho-ho, me thinks so!

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