134. Rover

This week, linguistic buccaneers Emily and Kyle tackle that age-old question--why is the rum always gone?--and along the way explore the history of the word rover.

Not only does this episode uncover a lost definition of rover, but it’s also chock full of other pirate words! Emily discusses the origin of some words we all know, like booty and buccaneer. But Kyle also discovers some words we didn’t know we knew, which normally show up pretty far from the sea.

Our hosts are also sailing through some history, discussing the Dutch Golden Age as well as some real pirates of the Caribbean. They talk about a man who served with Captain Morgan and lived to tell the tale, and then Emily tests Kyle on his pirate ship knowledge, asking about Blackbeard, One Piece, and even the legendary Flying Dutchman.