# Pirate talk I don't understand **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506 "2001-01-17T14:07:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/1 "2001-01-17T14:07:51Z")
Belay as in "Belay that! I know it means be quiet or shut up or something and where did it come from? Avast! As in Avast ye mateys! What the hell does Avast mean and where did it come from? Arrg. What does Arrg mean and why did so many pirates say that? There are other words and terms that I can’t think of right now but will wonder about them when I hear them. If you know any more let me know. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/2 "2001-01-17T14:13:15Z")
In the Navy, if you’re told to “belay that”, it means to ignore whatever it was you were last ordered to do. Ex. If the pirate captain said “ **aha** swab the deck, belay that, load that cannon” you should load the cannon. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/3 "2001-01-17T14:41:10Z")
My dictionary thinks that “Avast!” (from the 17th century), might come from Dutch “hou’ fast” (hold fast) so maybe that’s one for **Coldfire**. Sadly, it doesn’t know anything at all about “Arrg”. That has ruined my whole day. ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/4 "2001-01-17T14:46:40Z")
**avast** _vb imper_ perh. fr. D _houd vast_ hold fast - a nautical command to stop or cease ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/5 "2001-01-17T14:51:18Z")
Belay means to make a rope secure without knotting. It’s also used in the sense of ‘stop’ or ‘cancel’, as previous posters have suggested. Arrg, or more properly Aah-haargh! is a pirate trying to say your name. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/6 "2001-01-17T14:57:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danimal \* > **avast _vb imper_ perh. fr. D _houd vast_ hold fast - a nautical command to stop or cease** “Hold fast”… does that mean the same as “hold on tight”, or “grip tight”? Cause that’s what the Dutch phrase _“hou(d) vast”_ means literaly (the “d” ending “houd” indicates the more formal version - spoken language is usually “hou”). ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/7 "2001-01-17T15:23:07Z")
Lucky for you, I have my notes from when the _U.S. Brig Niagara_ came to New York City for OpSail 2000 this past summer. (The ship is a re-creation of one that served on Lake Erie in the war of 1812.) The mate told us: > [@](#): > > “AVAST!” = STOP! It means the orders are wrong. This is used b/c: As the capt. shouts an order forward from his post at the “flying bridge,” his officers on deck repeat the order in succession. If the capt. hears that one of them has misunderstood and is repeating the wrong thing, he shouts out “AVAST!”, everyone stops, and then he calls the correct order again. ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/8 "2001-01-17T15:35:10Z")
Ok what about “Landlubber”? I am sure that I am one but what the hell does lubber mean? ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/9 "2001-01-17T15:45:25Z")
According to my handy little Modern English Dictionary a ‘lubber’ is a “Clumsy, stupid fellow or an untrained seaman” You planning on a change in career direction, aha ? ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/10 "2001-01-17T15:51:27Z")
I think you should, aha. You’d have the best business cards. Rock Star, Sex Therapist and Pirate. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/11 "2001-01-17T16:27:41Z")
Shiver me timbers an’ walk me plank! Avast, ye lubbers! Billy! Show me whar the treasure is, an’ I’ll show ye whar th’ sharrrrrrk bit me! (Sorry all, I just had to get that out of my system. Arrrr!) ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/12 "2001-01-17T16:43:15Z")
tansu > [@](#): > > Rock Star, Sex Therapist and Pirate. Arrrg 'tis true me matey. Now if ye be female, then lay yeself down on my bed…umm couch and tell me ye troubles. And 'awkins! Where’s young 'awkins! In the applebarrel no doubt! Sorry I just had to get that out of my system too. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/13 "2001-01-17T17:01:55Z")
A pirate walks into a bar with a huge parrot on his shoulder. The bartender says, “Where did you get that?” The parrot says, “Tortugas!” ---
**Author:** ![scratch1300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/14 "2001-01-17T17:33:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > \*\*A pirate walks into a bar with a huge parrot on his shoulder. The bartender says, “Where did you get that?” > > The parrot says, “Tortugas!”\*\* Well, blow me down! This scurvy joke just sailed over me head! Can someone explain? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/15 "2001-01-17T17:55:26Z")
Oops. I forgot to get the URL for the cite. Oh well… > [@](#): > > Ponce de Leon, who discovered the Dry Tortugas in 1513 where he caught over 100 sea turtles here. Subsequently the islands were referred to as the " Tortugas " (turtles). **During the 1600’s and 1700’s the area around these islands were used by pirates as a base for attacking merchant shipping in the Gulf.** Sort of a pirates’ Club Med, I guess… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/16 "2001-01-17T17:57:30Z")
I guess you could replace the punchline with “The Caribbean!” ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/17 "2001-01-17T18:09:30Z")
A **SWAG** on the “Aarr…” business; as Robt Louis Stevenson knew full well, the southwest coast of England was well-known for its smugglers, wreckers and general swashbucklery. The natives of Cornwall (and parts of Devon) do have a rather interesting dialect, in particular saying “Arrr” to mean “Aye” or “Yes.” This is often burlesqued by British comics (think of the “killer rabbit” scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where someone says, “There’s a St Aaarrrgh in Cornwall!”). To address the OP: perhaps, since Stevenson’s extremely widely-read “Treasure Island” gave Cornwall and Devon as the locus of many of the pirate characters, their dialect has become the “standard” caricature pirate-talk? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/18 "2001-01-17T18:49:06Z")
Pirates? I prefers _Gentlemen of Fortune_. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/19 "2001-01-17T20:52:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rodd Hill \* > \*\*A **SWAG** on the “Aarr…” business; as Robt Louis Stevenson knew full well, the southwest coast of England was well-known for its smugglers, wreckers and general swashbucklery. The natives of Cornwall (and parts of Devon) do have a rather interesting dialect, in particular saying “Arrr” to mean “Aye” or “Yes.” \*\* Wandering slightly off-topic…I recall a PBS series 10-20 years ago about the English language (“History of English”,or something like that, hosted by Robert McNeil). One episode posited that the Cornwall dialect was more widespread in the 16th century, and was close to standard pronunciation. Which raises the wonderful image of the Elizabethan court all talking like pirates. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506/20 "2001-01-17T20:56:46Z")
Alrighty then here’s a good tester for you, lets see if anyone gets it. When I shout out the order “Two-six, heave!” What do I normally mean by that and from where does it come ? By way of a clue, yes I have actually done it in its original meaning when I was dragged into some film work for the Royal Navy on HMS Victory, couldn’t have been anywhere else I suppose. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirate-talk-i-dont-understand/50506.md?page=2)