Ahoy! Avast! Arrr! The words may came from a forgotten era in which calling a person a bilge rat was the lowest form of insult, but once a year they are revived on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Sept. 19.
According to Terry Rollins, children’s services director at Brown Library, Talk Like a Pirate Day will be observed at Washington’s library, with an event for children ages 5 through 12. From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., children are invited to dress up in their best pirate or princess gear for the second-annual Pirates and Princesses Tea Party. But because the event was wildly popular last year, they need to sign up prior to Thursday, Rollins said.
“This was just amazingly successful — we just had dozens and dozens of boys and girls dressed like pirates and princesses.” Rollins said. “Last year, we had to turn kids away because we reached our fire code limit for the upstairs. We don’t want that to happen again this year.”
The hour-long celebration involves songs and stories, a formal tea party with punch substitute, prizes, and, of course, talking like pirates.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day was started in 1995 by a handful of friends just for fun, but it grew to an international phenomena once humorist Dave Barry mentioned it in a 2002 column, according to the website talklikeapirate.com. Now, the day, and the lingo, are celebrated at events worldwide — dozens of countries are listed on the website as hosting Talk Like a Pirate Day events Thursday. The website is also clear that while it may be fun to talk like a pirate for the day, pirates were not good people.
“Pirates were and are bad people. Really reprehensible. Even the most casual exploration of the history of pirates (and believe us, casual is an accurate description of our research) leaves you hip deep in blood and barbarity. We recognize this, all right? We aren’t for one minute suggesting that real, honest-to-God pirates were in any way, shape or form worth emulating,” says a statement on the website.
Rollins said he feels observance of the day is particularly relevant here, as eastern North Carolina claims Blackbeard and the East Carolina University Pirates as its own.
“We just love pirates,” Rollins laughed.
Brown Library is located at 122 Van Norden St., Washington. To sign up, call 252-946-4300. Children must be accompanied by an adult.