Racquetball can be an intimidating sport all on its own, but throw in some pirate jargon toward your opponent, and you’ve got a game that could make anyone’s knees shake, or maybe something even better.

Mark Summers and John Baur didn’t know it during the infamous racquetball game of 1995, but when they decided to talk to each other in pirate lingo on that fateful day, it was the beginning of a brand new holiday.

“Great Neptune’s man nipples!” said Summers, who’s pirate name is Cap’n Slappy.

He still remains shocked that what began as a joke between him and Baur, also known as Ol’ Chumbucket, has turned into an annual event where over an estimated 19 million people speak like pirates for the entire day.

Every year on Sept. 19, the birthdate of Cap’n Slappy’s ex-wife, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is celebrated around the world. Even Antarctica has a few pirate wannabes.

“When our Web site, www.talklikeapirate.com buzzed to life in the spring o’ 2003, we started to get e-mail from folks all over the world, from soldiers in Iraq to research scientists at the South Pole,” Cap’n Slappy said. “They tell us stories of how International Talk Like a Pirate Day was a welcome laugh in an otherwise serious world.”

This past Tuesday marked the 12th celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and while many took time out of their busy schedules to talk like a pirate, others had a large amount of work to do.

The two co-founders of the holiday are also the authors of two books, and their latest is the wildly acclaimed “Pirattitude! So You Want to Be a Pirate? Here’s How!” which was released last year on Sept. 6.

Because of their work’s success, Ol’Chumbucket and Cap’n Slappy spent this year’s International Talk Like a Pirate Day at numerous radio and television stations answering interview questions.

“It’s the way it goes. Santa works on Christmas, the Easter Bunny works on Easter, I’m not sure who works all day on Arbor Day, but it must be somebody,” Ol’ Chumbucket said. “We managed to have a little fun this year by spreading the word, eating barbecued pork ribs which we call ‘Pigcicles,’ the official pork product of Talk Like a Pirate Day, and drinking a little too much ale than is probably good for us.”