I'm a fool. It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and the last post clearly leaves itself open to a piracy-related gag.

But since I'm clearly not quick witted enough, here's some food-and-piracy-related trivia. In the book Stuffed and Starved, I wrote about how the term 'Limey' came to be associated with British seamen because that's what they ate to prevent scurvy.

But did you know that "Buccaneer" also has a food-related etymology? According to the Oxford English dictionary, the original use of the word was "One who dries and smokes flesh on a boucan after the manner of the Indians. The name was first ‘given to the French hunters of St. Domingo, who prepared the flesh of the wild oxen and boars in this way’.

So now you know.

Arrr.

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Posted on 19 September, 2008 - 19:04