Text: "The "original" skull-and-crossed-bones was credited to a French buccaneer, Bartholomew Roberts, in the mid 1600s. Various other emblems - crossed-cutlasses for example - were used by later pirates. Pirates hanged at Newport, Rhode Island in 1723 called their flag 'Old Roger', which was an early 18th century nickname for the Devil. And, yes, in thieves slang, rogues were called "rogers". But why "jolly" ? Bartholomew Roberts was nicknamed "Le Jolie Rouge", and in English this was used to refer to the flag and not the man. As well, another origin may have been that the Jolly Roger was a corruption of Jolie Rougere, a red pennant flown by French buccaneers to show no quarter would be taken. In many parts of the Caribbean, the "Jolly Roger" was the equivalent of a happy face: it meant the pirate ship was willing to take prisoners. The appearance of a red flag, however, signified no prisoners, and the pirates would slaughter crew and passengers to a man. Bear in mind that the flags had different meanings [or none] at different time periods and in different regions."

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