Well, I sure didn't start ITLAPD, nor did I start the BZPower pirate fad (just joined it, is all). Fads aren't about the attraction, it's about the fun factor. People who join a fad just for the sake of joining are the ones who don't get the point - the 'jump off a bridge' kind of people (non-bungee people, that is).

Fads blow over. Fandom, however, tends to stick around.

I didn't know who started ITLAPD; I just assumed. You were the most visible target to blame. I'm sorry about that.

Yes, they are about the fun factor. I think the emoticon is fun, and I like to throw in a pirate-ism now and then, but somehow, making a big production out of it goes against my grain. That's all.

So I'm not a Grinch, guys. Really.

-BC

Why did the headchog cross the road?

Because there was no soap you radio!

*laughs absolutely hysterically*

I wasn't aware that Schizo started Talk Like A Pirate Day since I didn't have time to go on BZP that day.

I mean, yeah, you have to talk like a pirate on the Internets as well as IRL, but yeah.

That's been around for oh, a long time now. Yeah. Like, five-some years that I've been doing it. It's a good time I tells you. Goooood times.

YAAAAAAR! /doesn't feel like checking it for forums, go away.

Thanks, Little Miss K.

I did a little link-clicking. Here's what Tori "Mad Sally" Baur had to say about "pirattitude:"

Anybody can throw on a plumed hat, say a few "arrr's" and label him or herself "pirate," but I learned the pirate you wear within, the pirattitude, is far more important than the pirate gear you put on the outside. True pirattitude means living your life the way you want to, with no apologies. It means never having to keep up with the Joneses, or the Davy Joneses for that matter. It means not settling for the mundane. Having pirattitude means having the courage to question authority, and knocking it on its arse if that's what's called for. Pirattitude means living and loving passionately, having a zest and zeal for fun and appreciating the little things in life like a homegrown cherry tomato, a dog who misses you when you're away at sea and rum. Pirattitude is seeing life for all its possibilities, grabbing the cannon by the balls and firing away into the unknown for the sheer adventure of living on the edge. Pirattitude means being free and living freely. And acquiring doubloons. And rum. Appearing on Wife Swap made me understand that even without the corset, I am really a pirate because of who I am inside and what I so strongly and passionately believe in. And now before I accept my shiny crown and scepter, can we talk about world peace?

I've checked out some pirate vocab pages. Next year, I'll be prepared. Yo ho ho!

-BC