How T' Be Speakin' Pirate Like!
De Dictionary Fer De Landlubbers! ARRRR!

Speak Like a Pirate (.PDF)
FOR GUESTS!

Addled: Mad, insane, or just stupid. An "addlepate" be a fool.

Ahoy: Hey! Hello! All Hands Hoay: "All Hands on Deck!", everyone on the ship called to the deck, usually for action.

Avast!: Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, "Whoa!

Aye!: "Why, I agree most heartily with everything you just said or did."

Belay: Stop that. "Belay that talk!" would mean "Hush!"

Bilge!: Nonsense, or foolish talk. the bilges of a ship be the lowest parts, inside the hull along the keel. "Dey be filled with stinking bilge water" -- or just "bilge."

Bilge Rat: The bilge be the lowest level of the ship. It’s loaded with ballast and slimy, reeking water. A bilge rat, then, be a rat that lives in the worst place on the ship.

Blimey!: An exclamation of surprise.

Briny deep: The ocean.

Buccaneer: A pirate who be answering to no man save his Captain and Crew.

By de Powers!: An exclamation, uttered by Long John Silver in Treasure Island!

Cap'n: Short for "Captain ."

Cat of nine tails: Whip for flogging mutineers

Davy Jones' Locker: The bottom of the sea, where the souls of dead men lie

Doubloons: Pieces of gold . . . Money!

Fair winds!: Goodbye, good luck!

Feed the fish: What you do when you be thrown into the sea, dead or alive.

Furner: Your ship, not one you steal and plunder.

Gent: Man, non-pirate

Gentlemen of fortune: Pirate

Go on the account: To embark on a piratical cruise

Grog: A pirate's favorite drink

Hands: The crew of a ship; sailors.

Handsomely: Quickly. "Handsomely now, men!" = "Hurry up!"

Head: The toilet facilities aboard a ship.

Hornswaggle: To cheat or defraud, often of money or belonging's

Jack: A flag or a sailor

Jolly Roger: The pirate flag!

Landlubber: "Land-lover," someone not used to life onboard a ship. Lubber be ALWAYS an insult.

Lass: A woman.

Lily-Livered: Faint of heart

Matey: A shipmate or a friend. Me Hearty: A friend or shipmate.

Me: A piratical way to say "my."

Me Hearties: Typical way for a pirate leader to address his crew.

Nippers: Children

Privateer: A pirate officially sanctioned by a national power

Salt, Old Salt: An experienced seaman.

Scallywag: A bad person. A scoundrel.

Scurvy dog!: A fine insult!

Shark bait: 1) Your foes, who be about to feed the fish 2) A worthless or lazy sailor; a lubber who be no use aboard ship.

Shipshape: Well-organized, under control, finished.

Shiver Me Timbers!: An exclamation of surprise, to be shouted most loud.

Sink me!: An expression of surprise.

Smartly: Do something quickly.

Sprogs: Raw, untrained recruits

Squiffy: A buffoon

Swab (noun): A disrespectful term for a seaman. "Man that gun,you cowardly swabs!"

Swab (verb): To clean something. Being put to "swabbing the decks" would be a low-level punishment for a disobedient pirate.

Swag: Loot

Swashbuckling: Fighting and carousing on the high seas!

Sweet trade: The career of piracy.

Treasure: Loot.

Thar: The opposite of "here."

Walk the plank: This one be bloody obvious.

Weigh anchor: To haul the anchor up; more generally, to leave port.

Wench: A lady, although you gents not be wanting to use this around a lady who be stronger than you.

Wi' a wannion: With a curse, or with a vengeance. Boldly, loudly!

Yo-ho-ho: Pirate laughter