What difference does a day make?

Apparently, tomorrow, September 19th, is Talk Like a Pirate Day. I learned
this fact only tonight while walking down to the India Oven with Kip,
Amy and Aaron,
despite a Dave Barry column in 2002. Heck, there’s even an official
website that not only graciously provides tips on how
to talk like a pirate, but documents its
beginnings on a racquetball court in 1995.

And why not, says I. It’s not like tomorrow was being used for much else. I
mean, for Saint days it’s between Theodore of Canterbury (who?) and Januarius
(patron saint of blood banks and volcanic eruptions). Nor does it seem terribly
auspicious—James Garfield died of his gunshot wounds in 1881 and in 1957
the US conducted its first underground nuclear test in the Nevada desert. And
who doesn’t remember
the Post Office Scandal of 1903?

Although, Arthur
Rackham was born on September 19th in 1867. Also, William
Golding. (I love his book The
Spire.
has anyone else read The Spire?) And Mickey Mouse makes his animated
debut in 1928 in the short Plane Crazy. (More of a Bugs Bunny woman myself,
but, hey, still stands for something I suppose.) The Montgolfier brothers used
a bunch of barnyard animals to demonstrate how their hot balloon worked in 1783.

So not such a bad day. Probably won’t talk like a pirate myself. Maybe
just watch the Black Adder II episode, “Potato.”

(I still get a giggle out of the Pirate
Keyboard, by the way.)