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West Country Accents
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Salty Dog
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 5:38 am    Post subject: West Country Accents Reply with quote

If popular belief is correct then all pirates spoke with a West Country accent, their sentences filled with "aaargh"s and "oi be a pyrit"s. Did some magical change take place when a seaman in the merchant or Royal Navy changed his ways and became a pirate, did the simple Londoner or North Country lad suddenly come from Devon or Dorset instead? Of course not, and the common, and sometimes comical accent given to pirates in the movies is no more accurate than any other would be. The fact is that accents varied as much in the Golden Age of Piracy as they do now, and since a pirate crew might be made up of men from all over the world the range of accents would be widely varied. There were of course pirates from the English West Country (the South West peninsula of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, and Somerset), including Henry Avery, Blackbeard and at least three of Low's crew. It is because of two of these, one real, one fictional, and their portrayal by a Dorset man in the movies that the notion of "pirate speak" came about.
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Salty Dog
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 5:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert Newton, one of the most popular actors of the mid-twentieth century, was born in Dorset in the West Country, but travelled to Hollywood to make films, including two in the early 1950s which have coloured our perception of pirates ever since. In Treasure Island (1950) and Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) Newton played Long John Silver and Edward Teach (Blackbeard) respectively, and since both men supposedly came from Bristol, Newton used his natural West Country accent for both parts. Both films were, and indeed still are, popular and the larger-than-life Newton has become forever after associated with pirates.
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fleetp
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 3:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Robert Newton again played Long John Silver in a 1954 Australian-made film, "Long John Silver". It was also called "Return to Treasure Island"

Newton also played Long John Silver in The Adventures of Long John Silver , a TV series about the Long John Silver character from Treasure Island. It was made in 1954 in color in Australia for the American and British markets (before the development of Australian television).

Newton died of a heart attack in Hollywood in March 1956.
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Mr. Blue
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 2:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wrong wrong wrong! When a sailor decided to be a pirate, he was immediately sent to Talk Like a Pirate School. If he did well enough, then he went to Dress Like a Pirate School. If he passed that, they rewarded him by cutting off a hand or leg and issuing him a prosthetic.

Everyone knows that pirates were piratey. That was the whole point of becoming a pirate. Don't confuse us with facts. Smile
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fleetp
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And don;t forget to run SMP on Wednesday, 19 SEPT 2018.
(Talk Like a Pirate Day).
Arggh!
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Captain Teague
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 16, 2018 1:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Blue wrote:
Wrong wrong wrong! When a sailor decided to be a pirate, he was immediately sent to Talk Like a Pirate School. If he did well enough, then he went to Dress Like a Pirate School. If he passed that, they rewarded him by cutting off a hand or leg and issuing him a prosthetic.

Everyone knows that pirates were piratey. That was the whole point of becoming a pirate. Don't confuse us with facts. Smile

Smile lol

Captains also have to have advanced degrees. Not just any sod could be a captain, which is why the captain's rule was absolute. To disobey the captain was mutiny! Mutiny most foul...
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fleetp
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 7:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fire up the game, mates! It's Talk like a Pirate Day (19 SEPT).
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Mr. Blue
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Captain Teague wrote:
Not just any sod could be a captain, which is why the captain's rule was absolute. To disobey the captain was mutiny! Mutiny most foul...


well, I don't know. They let me become a captain, and the rotters disobey me all the time.
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Mr. Blue
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 8:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh yeah. Would these advanced classes for captains be Drink Like a Pirate and Swear Like a Pirate?
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Roland
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Blue wrote:
Oh yeah. Would these advanced classes for captains be Drink Like a Pirate and Swear Like a Pirate?

How would Swear Like a Pirate differ from Talk Like a Pirate?
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Pirate
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How about make money like a pirate day? Smile
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Mr. Blue
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2018 11:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Roland wrote:
Mr. Blue wrote:
Oh yeah. Would these advanced classes for captains be Drink Like a Pirate and Swear Like a Pirate?

How would Swear Like a Pirate differ from Talk Like a Pirate?


Okay, how about swear like a captain? Better class swearwords.
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fleetp
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mr. Blue wrote:
Roland wrote:
Mr. Blue wrote:
Oh yeah. Would these advanced classes for captains be Drink Like a Pirate and Swear Like a Pirate?

How would Swear Like a Pirate differ from Talk Like a Pirate?


Okay, how about swear like a captain? Better class swearwords.


Better class swear words "A pox on thee."
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Mr. Blue
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 26, 2018 1:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

fleetp wrote:
Mr. Blue wrote:
Roland wrote:
Mr. Blue wrote:
Oh yeah. Would these advanced classes for captains be Drink Like a Pirate and Swear Like a Pirate?

How would Swear Like a Pirate differ from Talk Like a Pirate?


Okay, how about swear like a captain? Better class swearwords.


Better class swear words "A pox on thee."


Well, we could do a whole thread on what the pirates would say and what the captains would say, but apart from some naughty mods we are pretty much G rated. Innocent
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