Today is September 19th, and that means the annual celebration known as Talk Like a Pirate Day! In addition to talking like a pirate, which mainly involves affecting a harsh voice and drawing out your ARRRRrrs, some folks also dress up like pirates. Of course, that involves a few stereotypes: actual buccaneers from the golden age of piracy dressed in whatever they had that would work for seafaring life. Have you ever wondered why pirate costumes almost always include eyepatches, peg legs, and parrots? You’d suppose a few pirates had those, but not all that many. Mental_floss looks into the origins of those stereotypes, as well as some others we associate with the life of a pirate.
See also: More on Talk Like a Pirate Day.
(Image credit: Talk Like a Pirate)