From the A Word A Day mailing list:
The word buccaneer reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago back in
Scotland. On Guy Fawkes night (British equivalent of Halloween) a little
boy was visiting his neighbors dressed as a pirate Captain, complete with
tricorn hat and eyepatch. He knocked at the door of a little old lady who
lived down the road. “Oh my goodness!” said the LOL, “You’re a Pirate!”
Then she asked, “But where are your buccaneers?” The little boy looked her
in the eye, shrugged, and replied, “Under my buccan hat!”
Erm … Guy Fawkes night is the British equivalent of Hallowe’en? Surely Hallowe’en is the British equivalent of Hallowe’en? Come to think of it, wasn’t it a Celtic festival for thousands of years before it arrived in the US?
My favourite bit from that article, by the way:
In England it is said that elves rode on the backs of the villagers’ cats. The cats had fun but the villagers did not and would lock their cats up so that the elves could not catch them.
Awesome. Cats always have fun.
