Turns out it's always been "International Talk Like a Dorsetshire Man Day"

[metame]

http://www.slate.com/id/2167567/

According to the fine people of Slate.com that Arrrrr! wot pirates is famous for is.... pure Dorset. All thanks to a chap named Robert Newton.

Comments

[ext_2366]

"Newton was from Dorset, in the Cotswolds district of southwest England,"

That would make Dorset a little more convenient for Oxford wouldn't it.

[floralaetifica]

Dorset in the Cotswolds? Strange. I don't think of the two as anywhere near each other, one being (in my mind) central and the other firmly west country. I don't believe Dorset is one of the counties that the Cotswolds sprawl across. Though I think they do dip into Somerset. I'm sorry, Zummerzeht. My family did once drive from my Grandmother's house in Weymouth (as south as Dorset gets) to Oxford. I seem to recall it took bloody hours.

[floralaetifica]

I'm not convinced it's that simple. What about all those west country sailors? Loads of them, from west country ports. Even Blackbeard was from Bristol. Perhaps also there's some crossover in the collective unconscious with smugglers, who we all know are Cornish to a man. Or Breton.

[undyingking]

In my mind, pirates go "Yarr!" rather than "Arr!" -- which I guess is basically the same thing, but it does serve to distinguish them slightly from yokels.

[onebyone]

Even Blackbeard was from Bristol

ITYM "Brizzle".

[floralaetifica]

Quite right. My bad.