history - What is the factual basis for "pirate speech"? (Did pirates really say things like "shiver me timbers"?)


The "pirate speech" we hear/see/read, for example, on the website Talk Like A Pirate Day consists of a rhotic dialect characterized by phrases like "shiver me timbers," "ooh arh me hearties," and so on and so on.


What is its basis in fact?




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