I just earned my sea captain’s license. To be specific, 50-ton Master Near Coastal with a Sailing Endorsement. I also happen to love pirate culture (the fantasy pirates that is… there are still real pirates on the seas and I am not a fan of them). These terms will have you talking like a pirate in no time. From greetings to insults, you’ll be ready for anything, so get a little silly today and pepper these into any conversation you can. It’ll be fun, I promise!
Greetings and Exclamations
Learn to say “hello” the pirate way!
- ahoy – hello
- Avast ye! – Stop you!; pay attention!
- blimey – something said when one is in a state of surprise
- heave ho – instruction to put some strength into whatever one is doing
- Savvy? – a question that means, “Do you understand?”
- Shiver me timbers! – an expression used to show shock or disbelief
- Sink me! – an exclamation of great surprise
- yo ho ho – possibly from yo-heave-ho, a chant when doing strenuous work, but also can be used to call attention to the speaker
Insults, Threats, and Dark Omens
Need to threaten or insult someone in pirate lingo?
- bilge-sucking – an insult indicating someone drank dirty bilge water from the bottom of the ship
- black spot – a death threat (found in Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson)
- blow the man down – it possibly means getting knocked to the ground or killed (found in a 19th-century sea shanty)
- cleave him to the brisket – cut a man nearly in half with a sword
- dance with Jack Ketch – to hang (Jack Ketch was slang for the hangman)
- dead men tell no tales – the reason given for leaving no survivors
- give no quarter – show no mercy; pirates raised a red flag to threaten no quarter
- landlubber – a person who is uncomfortable, or not incredibly skilled, at sea
- lily-livered – an insult for someone who displays cowardice
- keelhaul – a punishment in which someone was dragged back and forth under the ship
- mutiny – a situation in which the crew chooses a new captain, sometimes forcibly removing the old one
- scallywag – an inexperienced pirate, considered an insult
- scurvy dog – an insulting name
- shark bait – If you’re made to walk the plank, chances are you’ll be shark bait. Also, a dying sailor whose body will soon be thrown into the sea
- son of a biscuit eater – an insult
- walk the plank – A punishment, probably more myth than truth, which entails making someone walk off the side of the ship along a plank. The person’s hands were often tied so he couldn’t swim and drowned (and then fed the fish).
Slang
Understand what pirates have to say with popular pirate slang.
- briney deep – the ocean
- cackle fruit – hen’s eggs
- clap of thunder – a strong alcoholic drink
- dance the hempen jig – to be hanged
- Davy Jones’ locker – mythological place at the bottom of the sea where drowned sailors were said to go
- feed the fish – if you lose a sea fight, your body will feed the fish
- fire in the hole – a canon that is loaded and ready to fire
- hang the jib – to frown or scowl
- hearties – friends and comrades
- hempen halter – the noose used to hang people
- hornswaggle – to cheat, swindle
- no prey, no pay – an agreement meaning the crew wouldn’t get paid but took a share of any loot
- peg leg – a wooden leg
- run a rig – play a trick
- sea legs – when a pirate can walk comfortably on a moving ship
- scuttle – to sink a ship
- scuttlebutt – a cask of drinking water; slang for gossip
- swashbuckler – a daredevil
- three sheets to the wind – someone who is quite drunk
Phrases Related to Pirate Ships and Crew
Next time you’re aboard a ship, you’ll be able to speak like a pirate.
- all hands hoay – everyone on the deck
- batten down the hatches – a signal to prepare the ship for an upcoming storm
- bilge – the lowest decks of the ship, often filled with water.
- binnacle – where the compass is kept on board the ship
- black jack – a pirate flag; a large tankard
- buccaneer – name for a pirate mainly found in the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries
- coaming – a surface that prevented water on the deck from dripping to lower levels of the ship
- coxswain (pronounced cox-en) – the helmsman
- crow’s nest – the place on the ship where the lookout stand is built
- duffle – a sailor’s belongings and the bag they were carried in
- dungbie – rear end of the ship
- flibustier – name for the American pirates found around the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy
- freebooter – a pirate or looter, from the same origin as flibustier, someone who took loot or booty
- head – toilet on board the ship
- Jacob’s ladder – rope ladder that was used to climb aboard ships
- Jolly Roger – the famous pirate flag with a skull and crossbones on it
- man-o-war – the name used for a pirate ship that is heavily armed and ready for battle
- old salt – a sailor that has a great deal of experience on the seas
- orlop – lowest deck in the ship where cables are stored
- poop deck – deck that is the highest and farthest back
- privateer – a sailor sponsored by the government, paid by what he could plunder from an enemy, technically a step up from a pirate
- rigging – the lines and ropes that held the sails
- seadog – an old sailor or pirate
Terms About Money and Weapons
Of course, no pirate conversation would be complete without the right words for weapons and treasure.
- booty – treasure or loot
- bounty – the reward for a deed
- cat o’ nine tails – a whip with nine separate strands on the end
- chase gun – a cannon at the prow, or front, of a ship
- coffer – a chest full of treasure
- cutlass – type of sword used by the pirates
- doubloons – Spanish gold coins
- pieces of eight – Spanish coins
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Choose to have an amazing day….Jeff