Cur­rency:

Blunt – slang for money or coin


Cob or Cob Dol­lars – gold dou­bloons

Dou­bloon - Spa­nish or Aztec Gold

Pie­ces of Eight – Sil­ver Spa­nish coin

Tin – slang for money or coin

Foods:

Bunny Grub - vege­ta­bles

Bur­goo – a vile mash of boi­led oat­meal with salt, sugar and but­ter

Cackle-Fruit – eggs

Dogs­body – sea bis­cuit soa­ked in water and sugar

Grog - Rum dilu­ted w/ water

Grub

Hard­tack - a hard flour & water bis­cuit

Loblolly – Por­ridge or gruel

Poor John – sal­ted and dried fish

Rum – a pre­fer­red drink of pira­tes

Sal­mag­undi – a par­ti­cu­larly spicy soup

Spi­rits – hearty bever­a­ges

Splice the main­brace – to have several drinks

Tack

Tooth Rot – sugar

Fri­ends:

Bucko

Mate

Matey

Me Hear­ties

Insults :

Add­led - crazy

Bilge Rat

Bilge-sucking – an uncom­pli­men­tary adjec­tive

Dog

Land-lubber – land-lover

Lub­ber – a clumsy man

Poxy, poxed – to be disea­sed

Scurvy Dog

Shark Bait - lazy

Swab – dis­re­spect­ful term for a sea­man

Tre­a­sure:

Booty

Loot

Swag

Wracking trade –diving for sun­ken tre­a­sure

Excla­mat ions:

Bli­mey – to be sur­pri­sed

Bouyed up – to be uplif­ted

Clear the deck – pre­pare for battle

Land Ahoy – to see land

Me thinks – I believe

Sink me – to be sur­pri­sed

Aye or Aye, aye, sir! …or, Arr – yes

Punish­ments :

Bite the Bul­let – to stop the screa­ming from any punish­ment

Clap in irons – con­fined to iron mana­cles

Davy Jones’ Locker – a watery grave

Feed the Fish – being thrown into the sea dead or alive

Flog­ging – a short whip with a cat-o‘- nine-tails atta­ched at the end.

Gal­lows Dance – the dang­ling feet of a han­ged man

Keel­haul – tying wrists & ankles, tos­sing over­board then dragging under the keel of the ship

Kiss the Gunner’s Daugh­ter – to be bent over a ship‘s guns and flog­ged

Kiss the Woo­den Lady –to be tied up w/ arms ‘round the mast.

Maroon – aban­do­n­ing an offen­der on a remote island

Rope’s End – refe­ren­cing a han­ging – to meet the rope‘s end

Swea­t­ing – being forced to run around the ship until you drop­ped while crew uti­li­zed various sharp objects ‘encou­ra­ging‘ you to con­ti­nue

Wal­king the Plank – to walk until you drop off the plank

Expres­si­ons:

“Bat­ten down the hat­ches” – we‘re expec­ting adverse con­di­ti­ons!

“Bum-squabbled” – to be baff­led con­fu­sed or puz­zled

“By and large” – for the most part

“Cracking a bottle” – ‘Let‘s open a bottle of wine or rum‘

“Dead as bilge water” – rot­ting dead

“Devil to pay” – see­ing no clear way out of a situa­tion

“Eye of the wind” – the direc­tion in which the wind is com­ing from

“Fee­ling blue” – a ship wit­hout a cap­tain flew a blue flag when returning to port

“Gone by the board” – anything lost over the side of a ship

“Harp up in a clinch and no knife

to cut the seizing’s” – in a dif­fi­cult situa­tion

“I have the col­ly­wob­bles” – to be afraid

“I’ll see you mea­su­red for chains” –  a par­ti­cu­larly nasty threat fea­red by pira­tes “

In due course” – some­thing will hap­pen when it should hap­pen

“Keep a wea­t­her eye open” – keep an eye on where the trou­ble might come from

“Rattle the bones” – to shake the dice or gam­bling with cards & dice

“Shake a cloth in the wind” – to be slightly tipsy or drunk

“Shi­ver me tim­bers” – to be very sur­pri­sed

“Sink Me!” – to be very sur­pri­sed

“Stay the Course” – a nauti­cal term to not vary from the inten­ded desti­na­tion

“Sweet Trade” – a pirate’s pro­fes­sion

“Tell it to the par­rot” – to tell ever­yone, sprea­ding gos­sip

“Three Sheet To The Wind” – to be drunk

“Yo Ho Ho!” – a very pira­tey thing to say on any occa­sion

von Steffen Müller

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