Ahoy! Scallywags and buccaneers, carousers and corsairs, avast! It’s Sept. 19, the scurviest day of the year.
- Figure out your pirate name with this pirate name generator.
- Learn how to talk like a pirate in English — or even in German, Chinese or French if you’re the ambitious type. There’s even an English-to-Pirate translator and a pirate dictionary. Here are the basics: Change “you”to “ye” and “my” to “me.” Use the following as adjectives and use them liberally: bloody, smarmy, scurvy, swashbuckling. Crucial verbs: pillage, plunder. More words here.
- Get a free donut at Krispy Kreme if you show up in full pirate gear.
- Splice the mainbrace! That’s pirate for “have a drink.” Rum is the obvious choice. Check out this recipe for grog. Or swig one of these pirate-themed craft beers.
- Change your Facebook language. Under general settings, select “English (pirate).”
- Put on a pirate playlist.
- Retweet a pirate joke.
- X marks the spot on this Google map of TLPD events around the world.
- Sing a salty sea shanty.
- Build a pirate ship. How-to guides here and here.
- Brush up on pirate weaponry.
- Learn to tie a sailing knot.
- Live like a pirate. Here’s seven rules from the real pirate code courtesy of Mental Floss.
- Visit a local pirate-themed haunt. In the D.C. area, that would be Piratz Tavern in Silver Spring.
- If you have to batten down the hatches and stay indoors, watch a pirate movie. Here’s a list of the top 50 pirate movies. Read “Treasure Island,” “Robinson Crusoe” or one of these pirate-themed books.
- Look like a pirate. Pinterest has umpteen DIY costume tutorials. Going to work? You might opt for a more subtle approach: a red-and-black ensemble with boots and some shiny accessories should do the trick. Bonus points if you wear one hoop earring.
- Bake a cake shaped like a pirate ship or one of these other swashbuckling snacks.
- If you encounter a foe or frenemy, feel free to tell him or her what a rapscallion, scallyway, bilge-sucking son of a biscuit-eater he or she is.