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How to speak like a pirate
Abaft: point nearer the stern of a ship than another
About: to change tack
Acts of Pardon/Acts of Grace: a letter of marque for a "reformed" pirate, thus making him a privateer
Bachelor's Wife: a mistress
Barque: three-masted sailing vessel, square-rigged on mainmast and fore and aft rigged on mizzen
Barquentine: vessel resembling a barque, but square-rigged on foremast only
Bilged on her anchor: a ship pierced by her own anchor
Boom: a spar used to extend the foot of a sail
Bowline: rope made fast to the leech or side of a sail to pull it forward
Bowse: to haul with a tackle to produce extra rightness
Bowspirit: spirit projecting from the bow of a ship
Brail: to furl a sail by pulling it in towards the mast
Brig: originally a abbreviation of "brigantine," but later a two-masted, square-rigged vessel
Brigantine: a two-masted vessel, square-rigged on foremast and fore and aft rigged on mainmast
Bring to: check the movement of a ship by arranging the sails in such a way that they counteract each other and keep her stationary
Brought a spring upon her cable: a ship coming about in a different direction
Brulot: Montaigne word for a fireship (q.v.)
Buffer: chief bosun's mate who is in charge of discipline
Bumboat: a boat privately selling goods or provisions to sailors on ships in harbors
Cable: a large rope
Capstan: vertical rotating cylinder used for winding up anchor and other cable
Careen: to cause a vessel to keel over on its side to clean or repair its bottom
Chain shot: cannon balls fastened together with chain
Chase guns: cannon on the bow of a ship
Clap in irons: to be put manacles and chains
Clap of Thunder: powerful drink
Clap on: to add a temporary feature
Clipper: a fast sailing ship
Coaming: the raised edge around a hatch
Crack Jenny's Tea Cup: To spend the night in a house of ill repute
Crimp: a person who is tricked or press ganged (q.v.) into serving on a crew
Cutter: small, decked vessel with one mast
Davits: a small piece of timber used as a crane
Draft: the minimum water depth neccessary to float a ship
Driver: large sail suspended from the mizzen gaff
Ensign: a flag.
Fathom: depth measurement of six feet
Fireship: a ship loaded with gunpowder and explosives, set on fire and sent to drift into enemy ports.
Fluke: broad part of an anchor
Frigate: three-masted, fully rigged ship heavily armed with 24 to 38 pound guns
Furl: to wrap or roll a sail close to the yard, stay or mast to which it belongs
Gaff: spar which holds upper edge of a four-sided fore and aft sail
Go on the account: to embark on a piratical cruise
Ground: the bottom of the sea
Halliards: rope or tackle for hoisting a spar holding a sail
Haul wind: to direct a ship's course as nearly as possible in the direction from which the wind is coming
Heave to: an order to stop
Heave down: to turn a vessel on its side for cleaning
Hogshead: a large cask used to transport beer or wine. The Hogshead was an archaic unit of measurement of approximately 100 gallons.
Holystone: a piece of sandstone used to scrub the decks
Jack o' Coins: the paymaster
Jack o' Cups: the first mate
Jack o' Staves: the first lieutenant
Jack o' Swords: the bosun
Jack: a flag or a sailor; showing how sailors would refer to thier ship's colors as one of the crew. Hence Jack Tar for sailor and the Union Jack flag.
Job: triangular sail
Killick: the anchor
Lady of Expansive Sensibility: a Jenny
Lanyard: any rope that ties something off
League: three miles
Lee: side away from the wind
Let go and haul: order on tacking square-rigged ship given when the bow has just passed across the wind
List: lean to one side
Loaded to the Gunwhales: drunk
Lugger: two-masted sailing vessel with a lug-sail rig
Mainmast: the ship's principal mast
Matelot: (pronounced "matlow") another term for a sailor
Messdeck lawyer: a know-it-all
Midshipman: non-commissioned rank below lieutenant
Mizzen: aftermost mast in a three-masted vessel
Nipper: short length of rope used to bind anchor cable
Nipperkin: a small drink
Old coat: a veteran sailor (see "stripey")
Patarero: a muzzle-loading mortar that fires scattering shot, stones, spikes old nails, broken glass, etc.
Pinnace: small two-masted vessel; eight-oared ship's boat
Press Gang: a group of sailors who "recruit" for their ship using violence and intimidation
Privateer: a pirate officially sanctioned by a national power
Quarter: 1) part of the side of the ship nearest the stern 2) mercy shown to an opponent
Reef: to shorten sail by rolling up the bottom section and securing it by tying short lines attached to the sail
Rigging: general name for ropes, chains, and wires which hold masts, spars and yards in place and control movement of the ship
Royal: to sail against topgallant
Salmagundi: a dish of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies, onions and anything else the cook can throw in; a piratical delicacy
Scuppers: holes pierced in deck near bulwarks to allow surplus water to drain off
Sheet: line running from the bottom aft corner of sail by which it can be adjusted to the wind
Shrouds: standing rigging stretched from the side of a ship to support the mast
Skysail: sail above the royal
Sloop: sailing vessel with fore and aft rigged single mast
Smacksman: sailor on a cutter or ketch-rigged sailing vessel
Snow: two-masted merchant vessel, rigged as a brig with the addition of a trysail mast
Son of a Biscuit Eater: not so much a sailor term, but a derrogatory term indicating a bastard son of a sailor
Sprogs: raw, untrained recruits
Squiffy: a buffoon
Squadron: a group of ten or less warships
Square-rigged: rig consisting of four-cornered sails hung from yards
Stanchion: upright support
Stargazer: a sail set above moonsail
Start: to hit with a rope's end or cane
Stay: standing rigging fore and aft and supporting a mast
Strike the Colors: to haul down a ship's flag as a signal of surrender
Strike: to lower or hit
Stripey: long-service able seaman (named for the many stripes on his sleeves, indicating an "old coat")
Sweet trade: the career of piracy
Tack: lower, forward corner of fore and aft sail; in square-rigged ships, line controlling forward lower corner of sail; ship's coarse in relation to the wind
Tackle: ropes and blocks
Top: platform at masthead of ship for sailors to stand upon
Topgallant: sail above topsail
Topman: sailor who works on the sails
Topmast: mast next above lower mast
Topsail: sail above mainsail
Waister: an incompetant sailor
Weather: side from which wind is blowing
Weigh: to raise
Yard: spar attached to mast to carry a sail
Yawl: four-oared ship's boat or small sailing boat
Advanced Usage
-tion
The "-tion" found at the end of words like "locomotion" and "promotion" is pronounced "-seeon". So, don't say "locomoshun", but "locomoseeon"; not "promoshun", but "promoseeon".
Missing Letters
There are a few letters you should never pronounce. The first of them is "g". Drop all your "g"'s when you speak and you'll get words like "rowin'", "sailin'" and "fightin'". Dropping all of your "v"'s will get you words like "ne'er", "e'er" and "o'er".
Big, Bigger, Big Biggest!
Pirates are dramatic, and their speech is doubly so. Pirates never speak of "a big ship", they call it a "great, grand ship!" They never say never, they say "No nay ne'er!" Double up on all your adjectives and you'll be bountifully bombastic with your phrasing.
De-Conjugation
The conjugation is a rather modern invention, one that sailors always seem to be forgetting. Take the verb "to be" for example. Instead of saying "I am", sailors say, "I be". Instead of saying "You are", sailors say, "You be". Instead of saying, "They are", sailors say, "They be". Makes things a lot simpler, doesn't it?
Using Nautical Terms
Another technique for sounding more "piratey" is to use nautical terms. Here are some examples.
"Indeed were I taken aback!": I was surprised.
"And just as I were forgin' ahead through the crowd…": As I was making my way through the crowd…
Superstition
Pirates are a notoriously superstitious lot. Not only do they inhabit a world of vengeful spirits and ghost ships, but they also believe that using certain words when aboard a ship will give offence to King Neptune. Things whih are not to be mentioned include women, cats and the terms left and right, hence the elaborate taboo language which grew up around these things.
© 1998 - Alderac Entertainment Group
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There is no greater insult to one's religion, than to use it to justify violence.
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