In Which I Explain My Aversion to Gratuitous Arr-ing.

It's not that I don't think pirates are cool. I do, and have, for a good sixteen years now. (Ninjas may beat pirates in a fight, but pirates throw better parties.)

It just wears on you, after a while. You're out hosing down the deck and somebody yells "Arrr!" at you from shore. You're motoring into the harbor and a guy in a fishing boat hollers, "Arr, matey!" You're aloft furling at the end of a long day, and you hear an "Arrr" from the dock, and you don't even look, you just roll your eyes. You can't yell back; that would be unprofessional, and besides, what would you say?
a) "You okay over there?"
b) "So's yer ma!"
c) "Heard that one. Got any others?"
d) "S! T! U! V!"
No. There is nothing.

There was a passenger on one of our battle sails last week who had a seriously cool pirate costume, topped off with a big curly mustache. All this was fairly impressive until he started bellowing at the passengers on the other boats, calling them "bloomin' cockaroaches" and "foc's'le scum". The worst part was that he pronounced foc's'le in such a way that it sounded like he was swearing at them. I was embarrassed for him.

I guess what it comes down to is that there's a big difference between playing at being a pirate and working at being a tall ship sailor, and when you're involved in the latter you run into an awful lot of the former. And it gets old fairly quickly.

Don't get me wrong. I really don't mind if you, my friends, feel the urge to say "Arr" to me, and I'm certainly not offended if you talk like a pirate in my general vicinity. Heck, I think it's kind of cute. Just be aware that if you ever happen to visit a sailing ship, no one who works there will think it's cool. They hear it all the time.