The event, celebrated every September 19 for about the last decade, has its own web site and its own Facebook fan site with nearly 7,000 fans.
There are more than 1,500 Talk Like A Pirate videos on YouTube and more than 10 million websites dedicated to the phenomenon.
The event was created in 1995 John Baur and Mark Summers, from Oregon, decreed observers of the holiday would greet each other with ‘Ahoy, me hearty!’.
The holiday gained traction when Miami-based columnist Dave Barry gave it a nod in 2002.
As well as the usual “Arrrs!” and “Ayes!” in conversation, observers of the event are expected to be familiar with a vast lexicon of pirate jargon, much of it dating back to the 17 the century.
In Britain, dozens of pirate events are being held around the country include a CAMRA Pirate Pub Crawl in Nottinghamshire, a children’s pirate party in Gloucestershire and a 50p rum drinks promotion at a pub in London.
The official British representative of the Pirate holiday is Mad Cap'n Tom who was last year elected President of the University of York Students’ Union and carried out his duties in character.
Many of this year’s events are in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.
A proper pirate would know the following words:
Avast! — Stop and give attention. It can be used in a sense of surprise, “Whoa! Get a load of that!”
Beauty — The best possible pirate address for a woman. Always preceded by “me,” as in, “C’mere, me beauty,” or even, “me buxom beauty,” to one particularly well endowed.
Grog — An alcoholic drink, usually rum diluted with water, but in this context you could use it to refer to any alcoholic beverage other than beer
Smartly — Do something quickly.
Shiver me timbers!: The founders of the event
International Talk Like a Pirate Day is being celebrated today, as it has every September 19 for the last decade. 

The tradition was started by John Baur and Mark Summers, known to fellow pirates as Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket. It became popular in 2002, when US author Dave Barry joined the support. Baur and Summers are both published authors themselves, as well as self-publishing books.

In Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom the Campaign for Real Ale has organised a pirate pub crawl, while a London pub is offering rum at £0.50 a time. There are several events linked to the cancer charity Marie Curie. A Los Angeles bar is offering a day of 'sexy pirate talk'.

Australia's Whitsunday Islands are holding an event organised by a man identified by ABC only as Captain Dan van Blarcom. "We're the polite pirates and we always use our manners and say please and thank you and ensure our visitors always come first," he said, adding that people caught not having fun may be made to walk the plank and that there are "some pirate hip hop music and other pirate songs" on offer.

Bauer and Summers started the day after deciding that raquetball was much more fun when various pirate sayings were mixed into the game. The picked today as it was one of the few dates Summers could remember that did not already have a major holiday, being his ex-wife's birthday.