Today is international Talk Like a Pirate Day. Every September 19th, people around the world celebrate this unusual holiday by incorporating phrases like “Ahoy, Matey,” “Aaaaargh!,” and “Shiver Me Timbers” into their vocabularies. What’s the point? Well, there really isn’t one, as far as I can tell, but it’s good fun!

Here at the First Book office, we’re a bit disappointed that this holiday doesn’t rate a day off, but we’re celebrating anyway. I can hear Rachael and Gerard doing their “pirate talk” from down the hallway.

Oddly, most pirates don’t talk (or dress) like pirates. The pirate stereotype is mostly due to books and movies. Piracy doesn’t generally involve peglegs and parrots. In fact, there are still many pirates in modern times — people who board and rob ships at sea. Pirate attacks mostly occur near Asia, Africa, and South America, and modern pirates use modern tools like mobile phones and machine guns, rather than knives and, er, walking the plank.

But the pirates of fiction and folklore tend to be a lot more interesting. I think tonight I’m going to curl up with a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and lose myself in a good pirate adventure. Aaaargh!!