"blergh" (and "argh")

[Dan Goncharoff]

I want to say Treasure Island, because it is the source of almost
everything Pirate, but there is no "argh" in Stevenson's immortal work,
just a lot of indeterminate oaths.

DanG

On 6/17/2010 9:46 AM, Charles Doyle wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle<cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      "blergh" (and "argh")
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>
> I just read an e-mail from a former student (mid-twentyish) in which she used the interjection "blergh!"--which was new to me.
>
> _Urban Dictionary_ registers the word, one of the (three) contributors offering an etymology: "a combination of the words: blah, argh, and ugh."  (How would "ugh" figure in the blend? Perhaps explaining the vowel?)
>
> When, I wonder, (and how) did "argh" become the ubiquitously-recognized staple of Pirate-speak?  The OED records the interjection "argh" (the "-r-" is optional, depending on the rhoticism of the dialect, I suppose), but the entry says nothing about pirates. Have we discussed maricanine "argh"?
>
> Charlie
>
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