# pirate dialect **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367 "2002-12-04T04:53:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flabbygirlyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@flabbygirlyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flabbygirlyman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/1 "2002-12-04T04:53:02Z")
Why is it that pirates are always saying “arg!” in pirate movies? Did they really say “arg” . Or is that some writer’s invention ? ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/2 "2002-12-04T05:21:58Z")
I believe the term is “Har” as in “Har, matey! You’ll be walkin’ the plank fer that!” Hope that clears things up for you. Har! ---
**Author:** ![Church\_Key\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/3 "2002-12-04T06:38:37Z")
Q: What’s a pirate’s favorite letter? A: Arrrrr! Perhaps it is a bastardization of “Aye” and “Grrrr…”. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/4 "2002-12-04T07:31:04Z")
How much of this “arrrr matey” stuff comes from [Robert Newton](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Newton,+Robert)’s portrayal of Long John Silver, he asked, rhetorically. It’s my theory that he started that cliche, but I have never looked into it so I could be completely full of bilge, Maister 'Awkins. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/5 "2002-12-04T08:04:01Z")
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Long John Silver says neither “arr[gh]” or “har”. He does say, “Shiver me timbers!” There was an earlier Hollywood version of _Treasure Island_ (1934) starring Wallace Beery as Silver. I haven’t seen it, but Beery may have introduced the prototypical pirate voice before Robert Newton. ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/6 "2002-12-04T08:59:13Z")
Answering off the cuff – it’s entirely possible there are historians or linguistic specialists with special knowledge. I’m guessing not, tho, so here goes: Pirates, contrary to popular belief, were not necessarily acting outside the law (of their own country). If the Queen of England said you could attack Spanish ships, you had the legal right to do it. So “pirates” could be ordinary citizens. In that case, they’d use the same dialect as anyone else. If pirate crews were multinational, as is the case with shipping crews today, one might assume there was some contrived common language so they communicate. However, one guesses that most crews were not multilingual at core. If they were in some circumstances, to answer the OP, It’s doubtful the special interlingual words used to communicate would include totally meaningless expostulations such as “arg”, “arr”, and “har”. I.e., being a pirate didn’t constitute a club with special vocabulary. There was no reason for them to develop special words. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/7 "2002-12-04T11:19:50Z")
Another vote for Robert Newton, since what people think of as a pirate accent is simply a variation on British stage school Stock Accent #3: Comedy Rustic/West Country Farmer, which comes complete with the stereotypical interjection “Oo arr!”, making “Arr” an obvious thing to slip in when imitating Newton’s performance. For those interested, some others in the repertoire of crap actors are: #1: Comedy Scotsman (“Och aye the noo! Braw bricht moonlicht nicht” etc) #2: Comedy Welshman (“Look you, boyo”) #4: Comedy Irishman (“Begorrah!”) #5: Comedy Northerner (“Trouble at t’ mill”) #6: Comedy Toff (“Oh, I say!”) #7: Comedy Cockney (“Cheerio, guv’na!”) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/8 "2002-12-04T15:15:00Z")
Maybe you can ask [Dave Barry](http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/1437.php). ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/9 "2002-12-04T15:32:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CookingWithGas \* > \*\*Maybe you can ask [Dave Barry](http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/1437.php). \*\* Doggone it, **CookingWithGas** – you beat me to it! I tried talking up “Talk Like A Pirate” day to all my friends and relatives, but most of them didn’t seem that impressed. My nephews loved it, though. RR We need a pirate smiley. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/10 "2002-12-04T15:46:34Z")
For what it’s worth, a good friend of mine recently got married in Las Vegas. It was a pirate wedding. It was all I could do to show up in a Pittsburg Pirates uni. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/11 "2002-12-04T16:22:31Z")
From the OED online: Privateer > [@](#): > > 1. An armed vessel owned and officered by private persons, and holding a commission from the government, called ‘letters of marque’, authorizing the owners to use it against a hostile nation, and especially in the capture of merchant shipping. Contrary to popular belief, a privateer is not at all a pirate, and vice versa. Pirates are acting outside the law and privateers are acting within it. The U.S. Constitution allows letters of marque. Article I, Section 8, clause 11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water; Admittedly, to the captain of a seized ship there may be little distinction, and not all privateers were honorable men. And some were both. [Captain Kidd](http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Scotland-History/CaptainKidd.htm) started out as a privateer and became a pirate. But the two should never be confused. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/12 "2002-12-04T19:05:52Z")
“Ar” is just another one of the ways that English people used to say “yes.” Why pirates are particularly associated with “ar” (especially in movies, where they say “aye” for yes and “ar” as a generalized time-waster) is a mystery, but that’s what it meant. Probably, way back when, someone wrote a book using it right, and a hundred movies got made using it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/13 "2002-12-04T19:24:22Z")
Funny thing. When I was in college, I played in a production of _Treasure Island_. Before the beginning of rehearsals, the director sat us all down in the auditorium and screened Disney’s _Treasure Island_ for us (more as a treat than to prepare us dramatically). He told us that Robert Newton’s speech pattern was simply a Yorkshireman’s accent (my favorite line was at the burial at sea: “ARRR-men”), and that when he had visited Yorkshire in his past, he was struck by how many people talked as though they were imitating Long John Silver. I guess it was all a load of crap. But it stayed with me, and it does explain why when I read _The Secret Garden_ to Michaela, all of the servants sound like pirates. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Lots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Lots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Lots)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/14 "2002-12-04T22:23:40Z")
That’s not a Yorkshire accent. As WotNot said, the “pirate” accent is from the West Country. Nowt, I mean nothing, like Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/15 "2002-12-04T22:40:25Z")
Pirate walks into a bar, and he’s got a steering wheel attached to his crotch. “Ahhrrr … I’ll have me a beer, me lad.” “Okay, cap’n. Just get in?” “Ahhrrr … Been at sea six months, we have. Me and me lads ha’ been runnin’ the Jolly Roger at every ship we lay eye upon.” “Great. Say, cap’n, what’s with the steering wheel?” (long sigh) “Ahhrrr … it drives me nuts, it does.” d&r ---
**Author:** ![flabbygirlyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/45deac/32.png) [@flabbygirlyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flabbygirlyman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/16 "2002-12-04T23:35:37Z")
another joke On halloween, a little kid goes trick-or-treating dressed as a pirate. The lady of the house says to the little guy : “Ahoy mate, where are your bucanneers ?” The kid answers : "under me buckin’ hat ! " ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/17 "2002-12-05T01:23:01Z")
> [@](#): > > “Ar” is just another one of the ways that English people used to say “yes.” **Nametag**. Where does this come from? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/18 "2002-12-05T11:13:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\ ***Nametag**. Where does this come from? Cite? \*\* [If you insist](http://www.sedgleymanor.com/dialect.html) ---
**Author:** ![partly\_warmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@partly\_warmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/partly_warmer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/19 "2002-12-05T11:49:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\*Contrary to popular belief, a privateer is not at all a pirate, and vice versa. Pirates are acting outside the law and privateers are acting within it. > > … > > Admittedly, to the captain of a seized ship there may be little distinction, and not all privateers were honorable men. > > And some were both. [Captain Kidd](http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Scotland-History/CaptainKidd.htm) started out as a privateer and became a pirate. > > But the two should never be confused.\*\* Agree that a distinction is useful, but it isn’t entirely correct or absolute. The first OED sense of pirate is “One who robs and plunders on the sea…” What is accounted privateering by one country might naturally be seen as robbery by another. I.e., there’s somewhat of a slight of hand going on with the way the word is used. Naturally there are robbers who are are not backed by any country, and in that sense, are pure robbers. However bin Laden would probably take issue with this, too. None of this however changes the point that pirates were not a large, cohesive social group – were unlikely to have developed much of a distinctive language – and would not have wasted time creating simple words or relatively valueless interjection. Arrrrrre, ya with me matey? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367/20 "2002-12-06T03:17:42Z")
**WotNot**. Interesting site. I wish they had given some of the sources they used for info. The OED doesn’t seem to list “ar” as a word that appears in print. Yes, I know. It was just a dialect word used in a specific location in England, according to the site. How it relates to pirates I don’t understand. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-dialect/140367.md?page=2)