How T' Be Speakin' Pirate Like!
De Dictionary Fer De Landlubbers! ARRRR!
Speak Like a Pirate (.PDF)
FOR GUESTS!
Addled: Mad, insane, or just stupid. An "addlepate" be a fool.
Ahoy: Hey! Hello! All Hands Hoay: "All Hands on Deck!", everyone on the ship called to the deck, usually for action.
Avast!: Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa!
Aye!: "Why, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."
Belay: Stop that. "Belay that talk!" would mean "Hush!"
Bilge!: Nonsense, or foolish talk. the bilges of a ship be the lowest parts, inside the hull along the keel. "Dey be filled with stinking bilge water" -- or just "bilge."
Bilge Rat: The bilge be the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast and slimy, reeking water. A bilge rat, then, be a rat that lives in the worst place on the ship.
Blimey!: An exclamation of surprise.
Briny deep: The ocean.
Buccaneer: A pirate who be answering to no man save his Captain and Crew.
By de Powers!: An exclamation, uttered by Long John Silver in Treasure Island!
Cap'n: Short for "Captain ."
Cat of nine tails: Whip for flogging mutineers
Davy Jones' Locker: The bottom of the sea, where the souls of dead men lie
Doubloons: Pieces of gold . . . Money!
Fair winds!: Goodbye, good luck!
Feed the fish: What you do when you be thrown into the sea, dead or alive.
Furner: Your ship, not one you steal and plunder.
Gent: Man, non-pirate
Gentlemen of fortune: Pirate
Go on the account: To embark on a piratical cruise
Grog: A pirate's favorite drink
Hands: The crew of a ship; sailors.
Handsomely: Quickly. "Handsomely now, men!" = "Hurry up!"
Head: The toilet facilities aboard a ship.
Hornswaggle: To cheat or defraud, often of money or belonging's
Jack: A flag or a sailor
Jolly Roger: The pirate flag!
Landlubber: "Land-lover," someone not used to life onboard a ship. Lubber be ALWAYS an insult.
Lass: A woman.
Lily-Livered: Faint of heart
Matey: A shipmate or a friend. Me Hearty: A friend or shipmate.
Me: A piratical way to say "my."
Me Hearties: Typical way for a pirate leader to address his crew.
Nippers: Children
Privateer: A pirate officially sanctioned by a national power
Salt, Old Salt: An experienced seaman.
Scallywag: A bad person. A scoundrel.
Scurvy dog!: A fine insult!
Shark bait: 1) Your foes, who be about to feed the fish 2) A worthless or lazy sailor; a lubber who be no use aboard ship.
Shipshape: Well-organized, under control, finished.
Shiver Me Timbers!: An exclamation of surprise, to be shouted most loud.
Sink me!: An expression of surprise.
Smartly: Do something quickly.
Sprogs: Raw, untrained recruits
Squiffy: A buffoon
Swab (noun): A disrespectful term for a seaman. "Man that gun,you cowardly swabs!"
Swab (verb): To clean something. Being put to "swabbing the decks" would be a low-level punishment for a disobedient pirate.
Swag: Loot
Swashbuckling: Fighting and carousing on the high seas!
Sweet trade: The career of piracy.
Treasure: Loot.
Thar: The opposite of "here."
Walk the plank: This one be bloody obvious.
Weigh anchor: To haul the anchor up; more generally, to leave port.
Wench: A lady, although you gents not be wanting to use this around a lady who be stronger than you.
Wi' a wannion: With a curse, or with a vengeance. Boldly, loudly!
Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter
