RRR vs. Arrgh

I consider three consecutive capital R’s to be one of my trademarks. It appears in several of my songs including the title track of my “Give Me an RRR!” CD. I was initially inspired by the pirate joke that I’ve heard more than any other: “why couldn’t the young pirate go to the movie… because it was rated… R (or arrgh as the phonetic equivalent)”. With my spelling, I wanted to set myself apart from other pirates, while at the same time opening up possibilities for usage of words with the ‘R’ sound in an educational and entertaining way. For instance: "Pirates navigate by the North... ?", "Pirates drink their grog from an old fruit... ?", "Pirates in a fight often get a... ?", and "Pirates like their feathers mixed with... ?".

If you would RRRgue for the traditional Arrgh, you would do well to refer to The Pirate Primer – Mastering the Language of Swashbucklers and Rogues , where George Choundas dedicates a whole chapter to Arrgh.  He says the pronunciation of “arrgh” is “arrr” not “arg”. He also credits Robert Newton, famous for his depiction of Long John Silver in the 1950 version the Treasure Island, with popularizing the expression. In one movie, Newton said “arrgh” 50 times!

Which side RRR you on?