The Poopdeck

There really isn't a lot more for us to say except Aarrr! Thankee all who got us here. And we don't mean us as in Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket. We mean all of you who are taking part. This really, truly has spread around the world. So did the black death, so we don't want to take the metaphor too far, but still, when you've got people talkling like pirates in Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, England, Australia, Ivory Coast, and many, many points, that says something. Probably not something good, but something.

If ya need a refresher course before ya get out there, take another quick peek at the Web site to brush up on the lingo. Then get out there and surprise people.

I'm in danger of getting maudlin here, and there really is no room for that. So don't read the stuff at the bottom, after the Web Wench's note. Just get out there and express your pirattitude! Anyone caught answering the phone with a "hello" at work will be keelhauled at the very least. It's ahoy!

And now a word from the Web Wench, who has some astonishing news.

INCREDIBLE REACTION TO WEB SITE

When we launched www.talklikeapirate.com in June, 'twas - like so much else about ITLAPD - on a bit o' a whim. I figgered on buildin' the Pirate Guys a simple little site, updatin' it now an' then and maybe gettin' a bit o' feedback.

The first sign that we might be on t' somethin' bigger than all of us was the veritable tidal wave o' e-mail pourin' into our mailboxes. But we didn't know just how much bigger till this week, when the kind folks at our Web host, PEAK Internet, gave us a look at the server logs.

From a modest start (5,343 "hits" in June, our first month) traffic on th' site has exploded to 3,743,641 hits for the first 16 days of September. Yes, me hearties, you read that right: three MILLION, seven-hundred-forty-three thousand, six-hundredy forty one. And risin'. You folks are visitin' the Talk Like A Pirate Day site at the rate of more than 10,000 an HOUR. To which I can only say:

Thankee all, most kindly, and
Shouldn't some of you be working?

-- Pat "Jezebel" Kight,
WebWench to the Pirate Guys

(ed. note - This note was written two days ago. As I prepare to send this out, the numbers are WELL above 4 million hits for the month, and climbing at an amazing rate that's leaving scorch marks on our ISP's server.)

BIG SAPPY THANK YOUS ACCIDENTALLY DELETED

Yer editor, Ol'Chumbucket, was getting misty-eyed here at talklikeapirate.com, the online version of our good ship, The Festering Boil. As the final seconds count down, the kids are all tucked in with visions of Talk Like a Pirate Day dancing in their tiny heads, their dreams all aglow with the promise of morning.

I was getting so maudlin I started to write a thank you note here to all the people who have helped and cheered us and not actually tried to harm us physically. Fortunately I accidentally deleted that note, so you won't be subjected to those musings. Instead let me just say thank you to me bride - the Official Lusty Pirate Wench - our friend and indefatiguable WebWench Jezebel, and all those friends, none of whom subscribe to this, who laughed at us or laughed with us along the way. We didn't care which, the laughing was what mattered.

And, as always, special thanks to our close personal friend, Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Barry (we're pretty sure we were once in the same zip code as him, however briefly.) And just as much thanks to his entire research department, Judi Smith. Maybe even more thanks to her.

Now go, get out there. Talk like pirates!

Ol' Chumbucket, ed.