2008 Talk like a pirate day

"Aarrr"	"Ayeee"

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. I never knew about this event until recently, so I may not be as great at it as others, but it does remind me of how "Captain Cup-Hand" came into being.

Ever since college I have typically had a large plastic cup that I always filled between classes. Sometime in the early 90's I got in the habit of cramming the cup on my hand as I went to the drinking fountain to fill up. Someone noticed and asked me if I was part pirate, to which I quickly replied "Ayeee, Capt'n Cup-Hand here" and proceeded to talk like a pirate whenever I went to refill my cup.

I have always known a smattering of sign-language, and in order to be fair to the deaf community I take the international signs for the letters R and I and use them. In order for them to "sound" appropriate for pirate-speak, I typically hold the letter firmly and shake my hand in the process ("RRRRRRR…", "IIIIIII…").

Feel free to join in the fray (ayeee) and talk like a pirate today.

Traditional Letter Writing

Author's Note: I have decided to rehash this post as a Spin Cycle Post. Be sure to check out other Traditions at Spin Cycle by Sprite's Keeper.

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One semester in college I was fortunate enough to have a schedule in which I was done with my classes by Thursday at noon (I did have one class on Friday, but it did not require any homework). Because of this, I could finish my homework before the weekend began. The only unfortunate thing about this schedule is that when Sunday evening rolled around, everybody I knew was doing their homework. Rather than getting lazy and blowing off my homework till Sunday, I chose to write letters instead. What I found when I was writing my letters is that I have a lot of traditions that I always use when writing.

Hand written or typed:

What I found is that I type faster than I write. So, if you get a hand written letter from me it is thus considered more personal than a typed one— mostly because it takes more time to write. Also, with a hand written letter I cannot correct my mistakes as easily as with type written letters. Using that same logic, you could say that an e-mail letter is even less personal because I can easily delete something and there would not be any evidence of my edits.

Salutation:

It used to be clear cut in that if I had a salutation before your name— "Dear Name,"… then it was less personal than if I only had your name— "Name,". However, this only applies to written letters. For e-mail, it depends on if the message is going to a group of people in which case it would not have any salutation at all.

Close line:

I typically have a closing line or sentence which indicates that the letter is ending. My best one is one that I used in undergraduate school which is the following: "Looks like this could be the end… so be sure to tune in next time (same bat-time, same bat channel) for more exciting adventures of… Undergrad!!!" Many other times I just say "Be good and take care" instead.

Poem:

For my personal letters I use a poem that I wrote which I try to relate to the overall mood of the letter. Sometimes the poem is only a one line quote, while other times it is a several line poem. When I typed my letters I tried to center the overall poem on the page which is when you look at my poetry originals you will see a number which was used to center the poem on the stationery that I used. Also, if you look at a typed or hand-written letter you will see that I use my trademark (C over J) followed by the year the poem was written to sign the poem.

Signature:

Personal letters will typically have "With love," while more serious letters skip that part and only have my name. However, with casual e-mails I will typically use just my name ":-Chris" since it does not really require a formal signature.

Seal:

If I hand-write a letter, or even sign a card, I will use the same ink (or pencil) to seal the envelope with my trademark. Even if I type a letter, I will seal the envelope with my trademark. I used to use red ink when signing a card, but nowadays I never have one handy, so that tradition is less strict.

Even though I have progressed from Hand-written, to Typed, to E-mail— I am glad that I still hold on to many of my traditions, otherwise my letters may not have as much personality as I would like.

Trios, Triads, and Triplets 1

Trios

So many things seem to appear in three's. My wife and I compiled a list of phrases that appear in threes that we call Trios. Here are ten trios from our list:

• Coffee, Tea, or Me
• Hook, Line, and Sinker
• Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
• Lions, and Tigers, and Bears (oh my!)
• Lock, Stock, and Barrel
• On your mark, Get set, Go
• Pick yourself up, Dust yourself off, Start all over again
• Ready, Aim, Fire
• Stop, Drop, and Roll
• The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

If you have others, I encourage you to comment to add to our list.

Trios, Triads, and Triplets 2

Triads

A triangle is a closed figure that uses the least amount of sides. My wife and I found that there are several groupings of terms that always seem to come in threes that we call Triads. Here are ten triads from our list:

• Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
• Earth, Wind, and Fire
• Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
• Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
• Height, Width, Depth
• Land, Sea, and Sky
• Red, White, and Blue
• Rock, Paper, Scissors
• Small, Medium, Large
• Solid, Liquid, Gas

If you have others, I encourage you to comment to add to our list.

Trios, Triads, and Triplets 3

Triplets

Three is a magic number. My wife and I discovered that there are a lot of names that appear in threes that we decided to call Triplets. Here are ten triplets from our list:

• Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior
• Chico, Harpo, and Groucho
• Crosby, Stills, and Nash
• Curly, Larry, and Moe
• Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe
• Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
• Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather
• Huey, Dewey, and Louie
• Shadrak, Mishak, and Abednego
• Wynken, Blynken, and Nod

If you have others, I encourage you to comment to add to our list.