Update: So many of you liked the pirate speak feature that we’ve decided to leave it on. Enjoy!
Ever since that fateful day when the little meebo pirate joined our ranks, we’ve been waiting for September 19th to roll around (really, we have). Today is one of the few days in the year that puffy ruffles, huge shoulder pads, skull-decorated tops, and stuffed parrots are back in style. It’s not every day that a few gold teeth, a rusty sword, and an over-sized captain’s hat can get you some serious pirate street (er, ship) cred.
Today, ladies and gentleman, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day and to celebrate, we’ve hidden some secret booty inside meebo. Not only should everyone be fully utilizing the glory of the pirate emoticon (type “(pirate)” or “P)“), but now you can wow your IM buddies with your Pirate Speak prowess. Anywhere in your IM conversations, type “pirateon” and voila! you’re automatically pirate-enabled (minus the frilly outfit). All incoming and outgoing IMs will be translated into pirate talk.
For example, here are a few choice phrases to try out (and if you’re an early bird to work, try IMing yourself):
- “Hello boss. You should drive your car up the freeway to buy some beer.”
- “The airplane is in the basement.”
- “It’s that fellow over there, he’ll cheat you out of your SUV!”
- “Damn!”
To re-enable normal text, type “pirateoff” and you can stop sounding like you’ve watched one too many pirate movies.
cheers,
sandy
[ comments ] [ past blogs ]
September 19th, 2006 at 12:37 am
Pirateon? Can Meebo get any cooler??
I just tried this with my Meebo widget and it is too funny, good job guys!
September 19th, 2006 at 12:41 am
Hi
This is great! Spent 5mins winding up a couple of people having no idea what was going on… worryingly some responded in some weird giberish, deffinaltey not pirate speek!
Bring on national Klingon Day! Now that could be fun!
Ally
September 19th, 2006 at 12:46 am
the pirate feature doesn’t “translate” the last word unless there is a space or punctuation mark after the last word
September 19th, 2006 at 1:23 am
Dudes!! I have been on at my mates about International Talk Like a Pirate day for a good few weeks now… This is AWESOME
You guys are so cool, or should I say:
Gyaaarrrr, I been sailing the seven seas this day, and all days, but n’er have me crew shown the way like yeselves. Yo ho ho
.—.
/ \
|{\ /}|
(_ V _)
|”"”|
‘—’
I wonder how badly that will come out!
September 19th, 2006 at 1:43 am
I would like to make good relationship with nice persons from deffernent world.
September 19th, 2006 at 1:44 am
I would like to make good relationships with friends.
September 19th, 2006 at 2:37 am
I may be being stupid (quite probable, in fact) but this doesn’t seem to work for me — at least on www34.meebo.com, which is the server I’m on at the moment. Merely saying pirateon does make my friends start saying things like “Fire th’ cannons!”, but that says more about my friends than it does Meebo
September 19th, 2006 at 2:55 am
Comments area pretty cool.. There is a problem when sending links to someone.
September 19th, 2006 at 3:08 am
wow… this is so cool,
I like it.
avast. have ye taken yer dinner? Haha.
September 19th, 2006 at 3:12 am
OK, a little more diagnosis. I still don’t see the pirate speak when I send the messages, but it *does* appear in the history if I close Meebo and log back in….
September 19th, 2006 at 5:45 am
Like stuart… I too don\’t \
September 19th, 2006 at 5:56 am
You should have a comment like a pirate filter. (pirate)
September 19th, 2006 at 6:09 am
Arwgh meebo-maties! Unfortunately, my first and trough love is still the sea and not Meebo!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:10 am
seriously awesome u guys. can we be friends? ur so much fun. haha. love meebo
September 19th, 2006 at 6:10 am
I can’t wait for international talk like yoda day!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:19 am
this is awesome! stuff like this is what makes meebo so fun! keep up the fun things!!!! don’t be just a boring old instant messenger…. like all the others!
thanks!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:26 am
That is sooooo funny!
September 19th, 2006 at 6:37 am
hi im new at this whole thing so i really just wanted to say hi
September 19th, 2006 at 6:43 am
This is obviously completely brilliant. You guys do a magic job. And what a PR move! Excellent.
bug report though. URLs don’t survive too well:
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/bik/208926892.html translates to
http://boston. Hoist th’ mainsail, and dinna spare the whip!craigslist. Hoist the mainsail!org/gbs/bik/208926892, arrrr. And swab th’ deck! We’ll keel-haul ye!html
September 19th, 2006 at 7:09 am
OMG, that is AWESOME! Thank you!
September 19th, 2006 at 7:14 am
Thank you for adding enough laughter and joy to get me past Davy Jones Locker!!! Appreciate it! My incredibly bored coworker and I are having trouble explaining the hysterical laughter coming from our cubes. Thanks!
September 19th, 2006 at 7:19 am
This is totally awesome and should become a permanent fixture!!!!
September 19th, 2006 at 7:31 am
Awesome. Now we need simple file sharing or icons uploading.
September 19th, 2006 at 7:46 am
The autopirate created much hilarity in my team at work until we were busted by the cap’n. Please keep this as a permanent feature as it is just so much fun!
September 19th, 2006 at 8:23 am
Pirate talk is rad!
September 19th, 2006 at 8:44 am
saludos
September 19th, 2006 at 8:44 am
I have the same problem as Stuart, but my friend is being entertained. So, I guess it works somehow…(pirate)
September 19th, 2006 at 9:21 am
I wish i didn\’t have to go to class… i\’d keep messaging random people … but damn me class! We\’ll keel-haul ye, Arrrr! I’ll be on late and keep suggesting it t\’ me crew
September 19th, 2006 at 9:55 am
hi all, glad you’re enjoying the new addition to the meebo languages =p a quick note on the people who can’t see the pirate translations. meebo only changes outgoing and incoming IMs so anything you type in your own window will not be visibly translated to yourself. (try IMing yourself and you’ll see what i mean…)
enjoy mateys
September 19th, 2006 at 10:02 am
this pirate speak is so much fun! i just wish i could see what i\’m typing translates to. i keep asking my friends to paste back what they see. good think it\’s not like this every day or i\’d never get any work done
September 19th, 2006 at 10:53 am
Hallo people. I am a new member of meebo and would like to get friends online so that i can chat.
September 19th, 2006 at 11:14 am
hilarious. thanks guys!!
September 19th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
ya man u’re alright gow
September 19th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I love pirate day!!! arrrrr!!! thanks for the pirate translator, it is soooo fun!!!
September 19th, 2006 at 12:48 pm
Okay, pirate-speak is just about the best feature ever! Meebo rocks! My boyfriend was having trouble deciphering what I was saying. I told him he needs to go back to buccaneer school.
Aaaaaaand I was terribly upset that today of all days hardly any of my friends was on IM. *sigh* Can you keep pirate speak for a while? If not, DEFINITELY bring it back next year.
September 19th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
pirate speak is awesome… should leave that up all year round… will you? please please pleeeeassse?!?!!!?????
September 19th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I have to share this. My friend’s away message reads:
I…I keep blackin’ out and fallin’ down, Doc! I think it’s quick-onset diabetes!
Under pirate speak it reads:
I, ye scurvey dog…I keep blackin’ out and fallin’ down, by Blackbeard’s sword, Doc! We’ll keel-haul ye! I think ’tis quick-onset diabetes! Fire the cannons!
It makes me laugh every time I read it.
September 19th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Amazing. I love reading what everyone is typing to me. What a brialliant idea!
September 19th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
LOL I just typed meebo in my textbook with pirate speak on. Funniest thing ever!
September 19th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
zomg pirate speak is the coolest thing ever….i
September 19th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
cool
September 19th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Could th’ script that allows landlubbers t’ talk ‘piratey’ be modified t’ allow actual translation? It would be very usefull t’ many landlubbers, i’m sure (and bring many t’ meebo) because i know i have crew that know english as a second language, aye, and would much prefer t’ speak in thier own. And swab the deck!..
(Could the script that allows people to talk ‘piratey’ be modified to allow actual translation? It would be very usefull to many people, i’m sure (and bring many to meebo) because i know i have friends that know english as a second language, and would much prefer to speak in thier own…)
September 19th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!
September 19th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
omgg this is so cool!
you guys are so much better than regular aim =]
noww all we need is the ability to get icons…
maybe…?
September 19th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
OMG!!! I LOVE the pirate talk!
September 19th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
Please make Pirate Speak available all year round. I hate waiting…
September 19th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Bug Report:
“a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a..a.a”
translates into:
“a.a.a, by Blackbeard’s sword, I’ll warrant ye, arrrr.a.a, ye scurvey dog. Pass th’ grog!a. Hoist th’ mainsail! Fire the cannons!a, with a chest full a’ booty. And swab th’ deck! Fire the cannons!a.a. And swab the deck!a. And swab th’ deck! We’ll keel-haul ye!.a, ye scurvey dog.a”
Who wrote the translator =D
September 19th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
this is the best thing that has happened to me today.
September 19th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Awesome… will this be a one-day-only thing or can we do this whenever? I hope for the latter!!!
September 19th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
any 1 on??
September 19th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
This is fantastic. Please, oh please, leave the functionality in please, even AFTER TLAP Day is over.
Please!!
September 19th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
This was a lot of fun. And I agree with the above poster that I hope this functionality remains after TLAP Day is over. Thanks!
September 19th, 2006 at 8:44 pm
I saw a few other people noticed this…
It’d be nice if *I* saw what my friends see – whether Meebo translates in real-time, or shows a secondary message only to me, or maybe uses that “Meebo@Meebo” window.
But, hey – this is a great little feature! Hope to see it used in the future (foreign language translation??)
~Nick
September 19th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
this is freeking FANTASTIC! I really hope you guys keep it around for longer then one day. I was laughing so hard I was crying! seriously!
September 19th, 2006 at 10:20 pm
Hay guys i wish u all success in u r life
Amjad
September 19th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
lov the website….it is so much better than yahoo i lov it
September 19th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
lov the site its bettet than yahoo
September 20th, 2006 at 2:31 am
lool, too funny.
I agree with some1 who said it be4, when are we fonna have “talk like yoda” day?
its good to see you guys are still having fun while running an organisation, something thats missing in most places today.
keep up the good work.
September 20th, 2006 at 5:32 am
hi y every time i sign on meebo sum girl named sandy pops up…..please answer my question because i thnk its realy anoying that i have to x that out every time i sign on meebo…nobody even reads your stupid comments so i dunno y im even doin this…..ok byebye
September 20th, 2006 at 5:36 am
im sorry i dont think your commments r stupid its just im wonderiin who that girl is named sandy that pops up every time i sign on meebo….thanx…comment back
September 20th, 2006 at 7:30 am
WOW
you one crazy girl, lol
September 20th, 2006 at 7:34 am
hahahahaha. I love the pirate code. Always keep that enabled.
September 20th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Hey tiff, what you doing its so cool here latley to tak and hang out withy you. See you later!
September 20th, 2006 at 7:36 am
hey meebo guys…..and girls,
i just wanted to give you guys a little idea. i know alot of people here, obviously have aim or yahoo. i think it would be a great idea if you guys could enable putting some sort of data together so people can use there cams. like i know alot of people over seas, and i think it would be really cool to see or talk to them over my cam. think about it…..
September 20th, 2006 at 7:36 am
Piratespeak works just fine when I am IMing myself, but not when I am IMing friends. Is it because they’re on AIM, not Meebo? (They just refuse to see the light…)
September 20th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Im realy diggin this meebo website… Good job on the site… peace
September 20th, 2006 at 9:54 am
So sad…it doesn’t work for me either…
September 20th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Pirateon or “Piraten-Sprache” is great, but unfortunately it doesn’t work quite good with German
(Have you ever thought about a proper translation to other languages?)
Nevertheless, I really love meebo.com!
Greetings from the Oktoberfest in Munich!
September 20th, 2006 at 10:06 am
WOW, AJAX at its best! “Google aint got nothin on you!” i love this technology and the professionalism of the programmers. http://www.STVER.com
September 20th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Sandy,
My wife is Chinese and I just sent her an IM using Priateon. She loved it, so I teased her after I explained that Meebo provided the Priateon feature. Don’t suppose you guys would implement something like this, but funny none the less?
Chineseon
What you do?
You no onrine?
You own rexus?
Bely good!
Chineseoff
Keep up the good work,
John
September 20th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Wow Pirate on is amazing anyone think yodaOn would be a good Idea?
September 20th, 2006 at 11:39 am
YAY keep this code thingy even though I have yet to use it… cuz I donno any one… nooooooooooo!!!!
September 20th, 2006 at 11:48 am
i love this pirate feature!! please leave it on for the “die-hard” pirate fans like me to use everyday!!!
September 20th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
oommaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
September 20th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
hey everyone, meebo rocks!!! add me on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/datemebeforeimfamous
September 20th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
I IMed my friends and they were all ” Wut in the name of god did u just say”?
September 20th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I love it!!! Piratespeak is great.
September 20th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
Hay I love you All
September 21st, 2006 at 2:47 am
hi there every one how u doin
September 21st, 2006 at 4:04 am
apa barang bah yang ko melalut ni buduh punya orang putih!
September 21st, 2006 at 4:06 am
ko tau kah berapa harga ikan basung 1 kati di pasar????….orang puti mana pandai makan ikan
September 21st, 2006 at 4:09 am
Oh, so maybe you can try some variants later. Yes, chineseon and yodaon would be great. I’d like to have swedishchefon, but guess this is too remote. haha
September 21st, 2006 at 5:42 am
Great! I am glad you decided to keep Pirateon
btw that image validation thing is very hard to read the numbers on even when I do new id, which erases the stuff i typed in
September 21st, 2006 at 5:42 am
YAY
ALL OF YOU HERE ARE CRAZY… THATS NOT A BAD THING http://www.myspace.com/yummiegrapes PLZ TELL ME WHAT YA THINK OF MYSPACE!
September 21st, 2006 at 6:12 am
i can’t get it to work… when other people msg me i see it in ‘pirate talk’ but my own outgoing messages do not get translated…
September 21st, 2006 at 7:49 am
Never EVER take this away. PLEASE.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:12 am
hi for all! I wait sAnDy till today. It has been a long time since I saw her last two weeks. Please tell her that I am waiting her everday at 9 pm. Thanks Everday!
September 21st, 2006 at 9:36 am
I love this thing!!! Thanks for keeping it…
September 21st, 2006 at 9:51 am
I love to join this
September 21st, 2006 at 11:01 am
that pirate lingo was hysterical! i almost died laughing.
i love it
September 21st, 2006 at 11:31 am
So, when are the Jive, geek, and ValSpeak filters come out?
I was going to suggest elizabethan, for the Ren Faire folk out there, but the pirate is close enough.
Hey, any of the Meebo folk going to the Ren Faire in Gilroy/Salinas?
Matt
September 21st, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Hey I was wondering if you could make a c++ on type of language thing, just like you did with pirate language. I think it would be really fun.
September 21st, 2006 at 6:18 pm
MEEBO
its a briliant idea. WOW, i want to view others webcam so hope you add something like that. TY
September 21st, 2006 at 6:37 pm
I am sorry, I guess I am thick but I have no idea what you are talking about. Meebo is a very clunky application that I do not like and it limits the features inbedded in AIM, Yahoo IM and MSN Messenger IMO. I only use it due to my overzeolous IT police at work. So please explain what the heck you are talking about with your ameebo pirate. Glad you like Meebo, I tolerate it but don’t like it at all. Perhaps you work for Meebo?
September 21st, 2006 at 9:32 pm
thankyou alot for the t-shirt. sorry for irrelevant post but this is probably the fastest way to reach everyone.
September 27th, 2006 at 3:41 am
22d8
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:01 am
I LOVE THIS.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:42 am
uh yeah, stupid question probably but how does one go about IMing oneself?
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:56 am
I’ll jump at the bottom of the pile and add my smile!
Smile:
I have IM’d myself with my MEEBO but it does not,
shall we say, “do much for me” so I stopped it.
–g
October 3rd, 2006 at 11:07 am
Hey, I love the pirate speak feature. Very cool. of course I’d love it seeing as I’m going out with Johnny Depp)-Dont tell Vanessa Paradis though, I dont think it would make her too happy. Yeah so I was thinking, aside from pirate speak, you should put other features on too, like valley-girl, or street punks or premadonna or something. Just thought it would be a cool thing to try.
Xs n’ Os♥
future actress…
♥♥xoxo♥♥Mel Beakley♥♥xoxo♥♥
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Hey did the pirate speak go off…. I swabbed my deck and fed the parrot but still no pirate talk…
Sad one-eyed Drake….
October 4th, 2006 at 1:38 am
i love that sides
October 4th, 2006 at 4:28 am
glad to be a part of you
October 4th, 2006 at 5:45 am
LOVE the “pirate” thing. Got to thinking about St.Patrick’s day and talk-like-a-leprechaun! Ok, maybe in your SPARE time!
October 4th, 2006 at 6:43 am
62A2
October 4th, 2006 at 6:56 am
I can\’t get pirateon to translate anything i see it is enabled and enabled when i type it and even with puncuation translation is not seen by myself or others…help please i would love to use it. *wink*
October 4th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
It doesn’t translate through your window y’know. If you IM yourself you’ll see the difference.
October 9th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Hey, still loving the pirate speak feature! Anyways, just asking you all to check out my site; http://www.meliscool8.piczo.com — I havent updated it in a while so there are no pix of my bf (johnny depp) but im sure y’all will live. Yeah so sign the guestbook or whatever. And leave a message on my widget-saweet. elohels kks,
Xs n’ Os
♥♥xoxo♥♥Mel Beakley♥♥xoxo♥♥-Star.2.Be
October 14th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
fire, fire, fire. fire… lool gowthuman
why don’t u reply man
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:10 pm
mujebbale ko mannane nmbamatila..
ya man i think you are cool gowthuman.
what hack what kind ov freind are u. bispetor am annoyed doe
November 4th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
gowtha come on
January 5th, 2007 at 5:52 am
slt je suis jennifer je peux teltarchez meebo ?
January 15th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Did you guys turn pirate speak off? It worked for me a couple weeks ago, but “pirateon” does nothing now. What’s the dilly?
January 17th, 2007 at 5:55 am
ik wil egelijk aaleeen maaarrrr kejkfjksdjvklefjlkfjklfds meeboo
February 1st, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I got lost so http://www.ruletheseas.com/index.php?r=251. FUN
May 29th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
(pirate)
September 19th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
these features are really cool.
a leet speak one would be cool
September 29th, 2007 at 5:13 am
I propose that we have something like “rapperon” to initiate rapperspeak. Here’s what it might look like:
Hey guys. I have to finish that project by tomorrow, but the boss says she needs a new deadline. Oh look. Coffee break.
…would become…
Wassup, dawgs? Man, I gots to be down da hood tonight, yo, cuz I got me dat project I gots to finish tomorrow, but dat bizzitch say dat she gots a get it a new deadizzine, dawg. Hey man, what’s goin down? Da 40 break, yo! Bring it down!
April 14th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Arrrrrr me hearties! Piratespeak is indeed a pre-requisite of any decent instant messaging service! Arrrrrrrr!
Now where is that damn parrot???
September 19th, 2009 at 7:47 am
You guys are AWESOME! Finally a creative tech company, that dares doing creative things! Just like youtube or wikipedia, you guys laugh at the bigger guys, and one day, you will dominate!
September 19th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Hi,folks…I”m from Brazil…. I added you for curiousity…..Meebo..? Pirate…?
My english is poor…anyone may help me …please…
September 28th, 2009 at 10:00 am
[...] If you’ve been using Meebo for a while, you probably know a bit about the annual event that takes place this Saturday. September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and we blogged about it in 2008, 2007, and 2006! [...]