Arrrg!

Avast ye mateys! T'was an intense weekend it was. After the crew barely survived the brutal attack of the Bloated Harpie on Friday, this Dread Pirate strode ashore for a weekend full of cowboys-- steer riders, barrel racers, and dancing boots. There was even a break for this cowboy to take his Indian to an Indian/Irish/Bitter Queen Summer birthday roastin' (pigs and chickens) and boiling (well, also pigs and chickens, but these were men in a hot tub).

And, as ye well know, plenty of ale.

Yo ho ho and and a bottle of rum I say!

By the way, it be the annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day.


The Jobby Roger


And a little etymology from our friends over at Wordsmith.org:

buccaneer (buk-uh-NEER) noun

1. An unscrupulous adventurer in politics, business, etc.
2. A pirate.

From French boucanier (buccaneer, barbecuer, hunter of wild ox),
from boucan (a frame for smoking meat), from Tupi mukem.

Buccaneer comes from a French adaptation of a Carib Indian word bukan, a way of slow-cooking meat over a low fire on a grill. The first bouncaniers were interlopers in "Spain's" Caribbean, and the Spaniards tried to drive them out. It was only too easy for England to recruit the buccaneers into attacking Spanish interests. So modern day barbecuers, with their Webber gas grills and comical aprons, are actually descendants of the classic Caribbean pirates.

And as for sounding like a pirate, John Baur (guest Wordsmith) writes:

I've often heard people talk about pirates' "cockney accents." Wrong! The stereotypical pirate has a Cornish accent, based on the performance of Long John Silver by actor Robert Newton in the 1950 Disney version of "Treasure Island". He was from Cornwall, and his over-the-top performance and native accent are the reason people think that's what a pirate sounded like. Of course, pirates came from all nationalities. But the pop culture image is firmly embedded, and Robert Newton is the reason why.


Photos from the Rodeo weekend to be posted once Blogger's image upload starts working again...