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Merd? Pirates?

As I prepare during a last busy day here in CdM to go to England and play pirates with galleries,  a good friend e mailed wishing me “lots of merd”. Pirates___IMG_3239_d.JPG
Thank you, what does merd mean please?
Merde in French is not usually a sign of luck but can mean good luck, fais le bon heure, (have a good lucky time), although some say if a bird defecates on you or you step in it, it is good luck.
The English are never so optimistic and positive about such an event considering it as a miss fortune!
A small but significant difference I have often noticed, between most English and most French. The French tend in my limited experience to be more optimistic and more willing to take risks.
Having lived around sea gulls (at sea we call them with good reason, shit hawks) I find this overly optimistic so difficult to agree!!!
Strangely some English say ‘break a leg’.
Being a sea man I’d never wish that!
~
By the way the new painting, a classic, shown above, “Pirates!, the golden galleon” is probably worth about £1,000 and for sale, no reasonable offer refused.
Pirates then as now usually worked from small fast craft and the 17th century Pirates of the Caribbean usually had a secure base often with the regional governor actively discreetly involved
While re reading my rare copy of “Buccaneers of Americaand translated into Spanish and English (superbly written, facinating cultural details, in or about 1680 by a dutch man who spoke with many an eye witness and took part in many of the piracies) I noticed pirates of the caribbean then, were driven by much the same imperatives as Somali pirates today.
By comparison with pirates of the caribbean the contempory Somali pirates are quite well behaved…

Pirates! – 485 x 610 mm (19″ x 24″), Oils.
Price of the original in a gallery likely to be £950. unless an offer arrives and we can’t say no.