Arrr me harties, did ye know Monday was International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Around the world people were dropping their normal accents in favor of such phrases as, “Shiver me timbers” and “Ain’t that the bung hole?”

“Talking like a pirate is fun,” holiday founders John Baur and Mark Summers said on their website (http://www.talklikeapirate.com). “It’s really that simple.”

Talk like a Pirate day has been around for 10 years, but the public only really started to get in on the action in 2002 when the holiday was promoted by famed syndicate humor columnist Dave Barry.

“…[Y]ou, me bucko, should be part of it. Join us on Sept. 19.You HAVE the buckles, darn it: Don’t be afraid to swash them! Let’s make this into a grass-roots movement that sweeps the nation, like campaign-finance reform, or Krispy Kreme doughnuts,” Barry said.

The holiday has been growing like a scallywag ever since.

The Colgate community certainly hasn’t been a bunch of weak “land lubbers,” though.

Masque & Triangle took to pirateering out on the Academic Quad on Monday. Dressed brightly in whites and reds, flaunting bandanas and fake swords, the group hurled themselves into battle with cries like, “Take that ye scurvy dog!” or “Ye’ll soon be sleeping with the fishes!”

“It is one of our theater techniques we like to call ‘guerilla theater,'” Masque & Triangle Activities Co-Chair Vin Macri ’07 said. “Basically we wanted to catch people off guard and get the theater community more noticed around campus.”

Their antics prompted more than a few surprised chuckles from land lubbers making their way between classes.

“We tried to keep it on the down low so we could really catch people off guard,” Macri said. “It’s more memorable that way, it brings out spontaneous emotions.”

The pirate crew didn’t stick to swapping fancy words and sword thrust all day, however. At approximately 6:00 pm scores of crusty pirates burst into Frank Dining Hall spitting curses and bad jokes.

“When we pillaged Frank, we knew that this was a good day,” active Masque & Triangle member senior Case Aiken said.

“I hope that this will become a Masque and Triangle tradition and maybe perhaps even a Colgate tradition,” Macri said. “Pirates are underappreciated, but hopefully we’ll be able to change that.”

So pick up your belt buckles, pet parrot, and fake leg and begin to prepare for next year’s Talk Like a Pirate Day festivities.