Since Talk Like a Pirate Day is coming up next Wed., I thought I'd share the following from a writer friend of mine on the Historical Novel Society discussion list. His name is Broos Campbell, and if you like Age of Sail you should give his books a try:

Apparently the reason pirates (English ones, anyway) talk like that, or rather that we imagine they did, is because so many sailors came from Bristol and Cornwall that their dialect became stereotyped as the way seamen talk. And I'm sure Defoe and R.L. Stevenson added to the mythos.

Recently I was working on a scene where Matty, the narrator of my sea adventure series, is pretending to be a French pirate. So I asked a correspondent of mine in Paris how French pirates talked. He didn't know what I was on about. I said, "You know, like 'Shiver me timbers'?" He duly translated that into French and then asked me why anyone would shake the splintered wood.

As far as I can make out, French pirates just talked like anybody else, except that naturally much of their conversations had to do with seafaring things.

He did give me this, though, which I couldn't use: "Oh ho ho et un boitelle de reum."

Talk like a pirate? Hokay.

Since Talk Like a Pirate Day is coming up next Wed.,

Oooh! That means Elephant Appreciation Day is coming! Sept 22nd!

Oooh! That means Elephant Appreciation Day is coming! Sept 22nd!

Elephant Appreciation Day?! That means it's almost Emmett's birthday. Sept 23rd.

Which means that it's almost Matilda's birthday (26th).

So. What have you done in the last year while Matilda went from born to one?

What have you done in the last year while Matilda went from born to one?

Uprooted my family and moved cross country to a whole new life.

And got a haircut.

So. What have you done in the last year while Matilda went from born to one?

• Started a web site and an online column which has not been as regularly updated as I would like.

• Settled in at my new school.

• For the first time in three years, DIDN'T move.

What have you done in the last year while Matilda went from born to one?

Not much. Let's see...
Completely overhauled my wardrobe.
Changed my career.
Moved from the East Coast to the West Coast.

I'll tell you in late November. I have jinx-fear.

So. What have you done in the last year while Matilda went from born to one?

Had my 10 year anniversary.

Went to San Francisco to meet the little cutie herself.

Made plans to go to Budapest. Got my passport.

Kind of a Big Change Year for Buffistas.

Or maybe every year is like that, though I do have the sense that more people have moved to entirely different regions in the last year than we usually get.