Celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  This parodic holiday was dreamt up in 1995 during a racquetball game between John Baur (a.k.a. Ol Chumbucket) and Mark Summers (a.k.a. Cap'n Slappy)

One of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance, might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and strained something best left unstrained. 'Aaarrr' 

[L] Cap'n Slappy (a.k.a. Mark Summers) and [R] Ol' Chumbucket (John Baur)

In 2002, the pair sent a "message in a bottle"  letter to syndicated columnist Dave Barry who championed and promoted the idea.  Part of the reason that Talk Like a Pirate Day has grown virally is because the faux holiday has not been trademarked, even though Baur and Summers have a website to garner some booty.  John Baur's "pirate" family  also participated in an episode of "Wife Swap" in 2006.

Michigan State Sen. Roger Kahn (R-32 Saginaw Twshp.)

Funny how a farcical pain cry became a parodic holiday.  But believe it or not, the state of Michigan officially recognized Talk Like a Pirate Day as a holiday, with Michigan State Senator Roger Kahn (R- MI 32nd Saginaw Township) introducing the resolution wearing an eyepatch.  Better to pass resolutions for farcical holidays than plundering the taxpayers' pocketbooks or truly taking away their liberty.

If you want to scrawl your own electronic missive to the Talk Like a Pirate Day holiday sponsor, you can contact SenRKahn@senate.michigan.gov.  In the spirit of the holiday, it is suggested to put it in pirate argot. To quickly translate, try using Post Like a Pirate.

Obama's New Political Plank

September 19th was International Talk Like a Pirate Day, a fanciful faux holiday where people are encouraged to blurt out buccaneer phrases in casual conversation.  To wit, President Barack Obama tweeted this picture.

While it is kind of cute for Mr. Obama to participate in this visual joke.  But it took time and planning for the Celebrity in Chief to set up for this Pirate picture.  This same week, President Obama made time to appear on Late Night with David Letterman to face tough questions from the host such as "Have you seen me naked?"

Later, Obama went to a fund-raiser with Beyonce and Jay-Z which included a $280,000 tower of champagne.

 At the same time, the world is on fire.  American embassies are being attacked throughout the world, four American diplomats were brutally murdered in Benghazi, Libya in an Al Qaeda organized attack by an ex-Gitmo detainee on the anniversary of September 11th.   Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a loyal American ally, can not get a face-to-face meeting with the supposed leader of the free world when they are both in New York. 

In case any of the pirate argot stuck with POTUS, let me put this in pirate speak  "Shiver me timbers,  belay flying the Jolly Rogers and batten down the hatches lest ye scuttle the ship of state.  Savvy?"

Post Scriptus- It seems that the Pirate Photo was stock from 2009 and not this week.  However, that does not change the rest of President Obama's star studded schedule nor does it indicate that the Commander in Chief is not acting more like the Celebrity in Chief.