Privateers to Pond Life

When you Google Image the word privateer, you get lots of pictures of 17th century boats. Of course you do, that's what they are: private warships that were authorized by a government to attack foreign ships. Like pirates! Only they had to report back to their country for assignments and money and such. And they weren't allowed to sink other ships, only capture them. And none of them were ever commanded by Johnny Depp. So not like pirates at all, really.
Anyway, what's weird is that equally spread out through all these pictures of big boats on Google Images are what appear to be screenshots of some futuristic space video game. Specifically, they look like giant star wars-like spaceships shooting at things while purple laser beams shoot out their rear ends. Also scattered among these pictures of Hornblower-era naval ships are pictures of WWII-era combat airplanes.
This odd collection of images leads me to believe that if you had no clue what a privateer was and you went on Google Images to get some kind of vague definition of the word, you'd probably believe that a privateer is something that flies or floats and shoots at other things during battles. In that vein, the word privateer could also refer to things like submarines, Spiderman, and dragons.
I don't know about you, but I was kind of disappointed when I first learned that dragonflies weren't little fly-sized dragons. Wouldn't that be neat? I mean, you'd be sitting beside your little pond, hangin with all your little freshwater tadpoles and newts and snapping turtles, then WHAM! all of a sudden you're smacked in the arm by a teeny little FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON. As it lays there on the ground for a minute, struggling to pick itself up after its nose-dive into your upper arm, you quickly take out your little bug-gathering jar that you always carry with you, stick some twigs in it (after all, you have to make the jar at least a little cozy for the poor guy), and gently coax the petite beast inside. Then you take it home and show off to your friends that you just caught, yeah, AN ACTUAL DRAGON!! Come on now, doesn't that just sound great?! "What did you do today, Billy?" "Oh, you know, just went down to the pond and caught a ferocious mythical beast with my bare hands. You know, no big deal or anything."
But alas, in reality pond life isn't all that exciting. Nope, all you have there these days are dumb little tadpoles and newts and snapping turtles and tall grasses. Oh yeah, and mosquitos and worms. Otherwise known as things that squirm through dirt or give you malaria. Much too lame for me. I'll take things that BREATHE FIRE AND GUARD PRINCESSES, thanks very much. If only pond life was as exciting in real life as it is in my totally awesome imagination.

Jupiter to Jasper Johns