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  • International Talk Like A Pirate Day (19 September)

    From Ross Clark@21:1/5 to All on Fri Sep 20 00:01:46 2024
    "a joke"
    "all good fun"
    "an extra way of raising money for good causes" (really?)
    all seems now to be something that passed by in a puff of
    electrons....how many years ago?

    At least Crystal does note that the definitive understanding of how
    pirates talked comes from Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver
    in the 1950 Disney-produced version of _Treasure Island_ (my first
    Favourite Movie -- saw it three times).

    So: RLS for the syntax and lexis, Newton for the "arrr!".

    Newton himself (1905-1956): Born in Shaftesbury, Dorset; spent some
    formative years (7-13) in Cornwall, then schooled in Exeter, Devon.
    So he did have some genuine West Country speech to draw on (plausibly)
    when portraying Silver.

    He was in a lot of films, including the 1940 _Gaslight_ (!). Carried on
    as Silver in an eponymous 1954 film and a one-season TV series.

    "Known for his hard-living life, he was cited as a role model by the
    actor Oliver Reed and the Who's drummer Keith Moon."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Newton

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  • From Athel Cornish-Bowden@21:1/5 to Ross Clark on Thu Sep 19 15:09:52 2024
    On 2024-09-19 12:01:46 +0000, Ross Clark said:

    "a joke"
    "all good fun"
    "an extra way of raising money for good causes" (really?)
    all seems now to be something that passed by in a puff of
    electrons....how many years ago?

    At least Crystal does note that the definitive understanding of how
    pirates talked comes from Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver
    in the 1950 Disney-produced version of _Treasure Island_ (my first
    Favourite Movie -- saw it three times).

    So: RLS for the syntax and lexis, Newton for the "arrr!".

    Newton himself (1905-1956): Born in Shaftesbury, Dorset; spent some
    formative years (7-13) in Cornwall, then schooled in Exeter, Devon.
    So he did have some genuine West Country speech to draw on (plausibly)
    when portraying Silver.

    Alas. I myself was born, grew up and educated (up to the age of 13) in
    Devon, but I'm completely incapable of speaking like someone from Devon.

    Incidentally, we don't call it the West Country, but Devon and
    Cornwall, or the West of England if we want to include Somerset and
    Dorset. It seems to be mainly people from Gloucestershire who think
    they live in the West Country.

    He was in a lot of films, including the 1940 _Gaslight_ (!). Carried on
    as Silver in an eponymous 1954 film and a one-season TV series.

    "Known for his hard-living life, he was cited as a role model by the
    actor Oliver Reed and the Who's drummer Keith Moon."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Newton


    --
    Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
    in England until 1987.

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