my six year old wants to know why pirates always used to wear an eye patch! im not sure why, and i dont want to tell him the wrong answer! is anybody sure of the real reason for this. thanks
2007-07-30 06:10:46 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
because he has no eye
2007-07-30 06:12:49 · answer #1 · answered by plasticbag 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Eye patches may have had a more practical purpose for sailors and pilots. According to the myth, sailors (stereotyped by the eye-patch-wearing pirate) who often went above and below deck, used eye patches to have one eye adjusted for the top deck and the other eye already adjusted for the darkness when suddenly going below deck. The strong sunlight while above deck on an oceangoing vessel could require minutes of adjustment to the dim lighting below deck. With virtually no light sources below deck, sailors would have to rely heavily upon their eyes to adjust. In the critical moments of modifying the rigging, navigating, and especially during battle, those minutes were too precious. A simple switch of the patch from one eye to the other saved time and was more convenient than being temporarily blinded when going between decks. This was deemed plausible on the January 17, 2007 episode of Mythbusters.
2007-07-30 07:15:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Pirates have "eye patches", the Devil has"horns and a pitchfork", Jesus is always in"white robes". We teach our children the same way we were taught. Johnny Depp doesn't wear a patch in Pirates of the Caribbean? We teach our children what the normal expectation is, So pirates have eye patches, the devil has a pitch fork, witches dress in black and have pointed hats, vampires exist, and vampire bats will suck your blood and you will become a vampire. All myth, but that's the way we see these characters.
2007-07-30 06:30:24 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The practice was examined on the TV show "mythbusters"
& one reason for it was verified by conducting an experiment.
Going from bright daylight into the dark, sailors could not see until their eyes adapted to the low light below decks.
When below they would uncover the "patched "eye to see better in the dark.
Anyhow ,they proved the point by going from light to dark with & without an eye patch & negotiating an obstacle course.
The "eye patch" worked every time..
Probably something that could safely be demonstrated to a six year old & have some fun.
Guess TV is good for something once in a while.
2007-07-30 06:26:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 7⤊ 0⤋
Pirates lived dangerous lives and were in a lot of terrible fighting. It is just something that was common enough among them that it got to be used to symbolize them. the same way that peg legs and hooks for hands do.
They may have been poked by a sword ( tell your boy to never point anything at someone's face) Or they may have lost it to a disease because of poor nutrition (tell him it is that important to eat fruit and vegetables) When they were away at sea for along time they didn't have a good way to store produce and would often get scurvy from lack of vitamin C.
They went to tropical islands and thus commonly had parrots or monkeys for pets. Sometimes they dressed in ruffled finery and other times they were reduced to tatters, depending on if they were victorious or not.
2007-07-30 07:29:50 · answer #5 · answered by Tarpaulin 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I once met an old sailor, not really a pirate, but he did have an eyepatch, a wooden leg, and a hook for his right hand. I asked him about his sailor stories, and how he lost his hand.
He said he had been on deck in a raging storm, and was washed overboard, and was barely holding onto a rope for dear life. Before they could haul him back aboard, a shark came and bit off his hand.
I asked him about the leg, and he said he was on deck in another raging storm, and was washed overboard, and before he could be hauled back aboard, a shark came and bit off his leg.
Amazed that he could survive two shark attacks, I almost didn't ask about how he lost his eye. That wasn't from a stormy day, he said, in fact, it was perfectly clear and calm. He was looking up, when a seagull crapped in his eye. I couldn't believe that this could be the cause of someone to lose and eye, but he explained that it happened the very day he got the hook.
2007-07-30 07:34:02 · answer #6 · answered by open4one 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First off, the reason they wore eye patches was because something was messed up with their eye.
Then people made the connection of pirate and patch and made a stereo-type.
2007-07-30 08:02:20 · answer #7 · answered by DinoMan 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
A man meets a pirate in bar. The has peg leg hookand an eye patch.
"How did you get the peg-leg?" the man asks.
"We were in a storm at sea, and I was swept overboard into a school of sharks. A shark bit my leg off," replies the pirate.
"Wow! What about your hook?" the man asks.
"We were boarding an enemy ship and were battling the other sailors with swords. One of them cut off my hand," replies the pirate.
"Incredible! What happened to your eye?" asks the man.
"A seagull pooped in it," replies the pirate.
"You lost your eye because a seagull pooped in it?" the man asks, incredulously.
The pirate shrugged. "Yeah, it was my first day with the hook."
2007-07-30 08:46:44 · answer #8 · answered by JOhn M 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a fiction created by writers to give their characters a history. There is no evidence that real pirates wore anymore patches than any other people.
2007-07-30 06:14:12 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They wore eye patch because it give standing to other pirate not to be mess with
2007-07-30 07:31:19 · answer #10 · answered by Sparklynn T 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they don't ALL, but consider the lack of medical care when pirates roamed the seas! Any kind of injury to the eye could go bad causing the loss.
Besides, it looks scary! And aren't pirates supposed to be scary!?!?!?!?!
2007-07-30 06:16:54 · answer #11 · answered by Kathi 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋