Good morning to ye!

Good morning to ye, on this fair holiday, Talk Like a Pirate Day!

The crew here in Luxembourg was to be celebratin' today, but Cap'n gave the orders for the plans to move to yesterday. Arg!

We boarded the fair ship Luxembourg Playground yesterday, and were havin' much fun about it, when our second mate (I bein' the first, o' course) found herself with a bloody foot. No, that not be only pirate talk, thar was a lot o' blood. (And this first mate don't do so well with blood, as some of ye may know.) But with some help from the local lubbers (and a first-aid kit), we got her bandaged up, and aft on her feet. And the second mate now be havin' a new pirate name --- Pegleg!

When we were back to home port, Pegleg soaked the foot in the tub, and then Cap'n pulled out a good-sized piece of the ship from inside her foot (fittin' o' the name Pegleg), and we bandaged her up again, and she be doin' right well this mornin'.

I'll teach ye some pirate talk I be learnin' here in Luxembourg, most in French ---

• "Bon sang!" means "good blood", and a good expression to use when we feel like cursin' a French pirate.
• "La pleine voile" means "the full sail", or going as fast as ye can.
• "Coffre de trésor" means "chest of treasure". Need I be sayin' more?
• "Le fond de la mer" means "bottom of the sea," a good place to be sendin' your enemies.
• "Copain" or "mon gar" (or "ma fille"), how to address your mates.
• "Monsieur!", how to address the Cap'n.

(And "Yo-ho-ho" seems to mean nothing in any language, but seems to be a very pirate-y thing to say, even in French.)

What be the best way to learn pirate in French, ye ask?
Thar be a "translator" on the TLAPD site, but I be thinkin' the translator is straight from the chumbucket. The best way t' learn pirate, other than bein' one, is t' watch movies. It be hard work, all the watchin', but I be feelin' fairly happy with me pirate talk today.

And on the theme of movies, here's my list o' French pirate, from Pirates des Caraïbes ---

• un homme a la mer (man overboard)
• vous êtes prévenus (be warned)
• Nous sommes d'humbles pirates. (We're only humble pirates.)
• Mes cales sont remplies de trésors. (The holds are full of treasure.)
• le butin (spoils, booty, swag)
• On les rattrape. (They're catching up.)
• Levez l'ancre! (Raise the ancor.)
• Laissé allez de l'ancre! Pesez l'ancre! (Let go the anchor! Weigh anchor!)
• Hissez les voiles! (Raise the sails, or set the sails.)
• Avec ce vent, on aura besoin de toutes les voiles. (With this wind, we'll need all the sails.)
• Les pirates maudits naviguent ces eaux. (Cursed pirates sail these waters.)
• Vent dans les voiles! (Wind in the sails!)
• Mains en haut! (Hands on deck!)
• Mais pourquoi n'y a-t-il plus de rhum? (But why is the rum gone?)
• Si vous gardez les yeux ouverts, vous verrez des voiles blanches a l'horizon. (Keep your eyes open, you'll see white sails on the horizon.)
• Il y a une fuite. (There is a leak.)

And a part of the infamous Disney chanty ---

On est des demons, des moutons noirs, des pommes pourries
(We're demons, the black sheep, the rotted apples)
Yo ho yo ho, la vie de pirate c'est pour moi!
(Yo ho yo ho, a pirate's life for me!)

And some of my favorite lines from Pirates des Caraïbes ---
Captain Barbosa: Je suis peu enclin a acquiescer a votre requete. C'est «non». (I'm disenclined to acquiese to your request. That means "no".)

Will: Vous avez triché. (You cheated.)
Captain Jack Sparrow: Pirate.
(In French, Pirate is pronounced like "P-rat".)

Thar be on the TLAPD site also links t' several pirate-name generators. When I stirs it all up, this is how it falls out for the crew, in order of appearance:

Cap'n Pete the Badly Burnt
Pirate Jezebel the Blue
First-mate Wilma the Honest, aka Pegleg
Admiral Abigail Nimble Bottom
Pirate Stinkin' Jane Horngold

But I still be likin' Mad Matilda, so maybe I'll be Mad Matilda the Blue. And I be the first-mate, no matter what anyone else be sayin'.

Also from the TLAPD web site, some German for ye:
to wish a pirate luck, "und immer eine steife Brise!" (and always a strong wind)
In French, it's "Toujours un vent fort!"

So Godspeed to ye, and always a strong wind!

Mad Matilda the Blue