How did whistling start?

Answer 1

Bologna History:

The Lighter Side of History

(Which means some historical fact and whole lot of bologna)

There are some who believe it was Whistler's mother who invented whistling but this is not true. It was Whistler's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather, Cyrus Whistler who invented whistling which is the source of that family name. Cyrus Whistler was a merchant in Europe who often traveled to far off and distant lands. One time while in China, he was running late for a meeting with some clients and in a hurry to catch a ride with one of the many ricshaw's hurriedly bustling about the busy streets of Hong Kong. In frustration at his inability to grab the attention of these ricshaws, many of them being occupied, he kept yelling "Hey!" to them but to no avail. Finally, in great frustration he placed his forefinger and his little finger in his mouth, as he often did when angry, to bite them and as he was doing this, he also began cursing but the combination of the two instead created a loud shrill sound that grabbed the attention of many ricshaw "drivers" as well as many bystanders. Being quite pleased with this new found method of attention getting he went back home to Europe and began to impress friends and family with this new and delightful noise. Later, at some point, he called the noise whilstling.

Editors note:

Both the Society of Uptight and Really, Really, Serious Historians, (S.U.R.R.S.H.), and the Society of Uppity and Artistic and Vainglorious Educators, (S.U.A.V.E.), object strongly to this total fabrication above. While it is true that the story behind the painting of Whistler's Mother is varied and much of unverifiable that does not excuse the willful fabrications made by the contributor above. The family of James McNeill Whistler does not include any geneologhy of a Cyrus Whistler and the claims that whistling was invented by a merchant on a trip to Hong Kong is unverifiable and given the history of this contributor most likely false.

Oh okay, fine. If it is facts you want, I can happily oblige. Whistling is a vocal call or aerophone instrument that produces the same forced air sound. However, "historically" speaking, whistling finds its roots in China where acorns were used by night Watchmen to alert the town of Mongol invaders. Also in Egypt, two blades of papyrus were held in the palm of ones hand to produce a loud vibration that sounds like a whistle. Happy?

Editors note:

S.U.R.R.S.H. will never be happy as long as you are allowed to continue your historical jiberjabber but confirms the veracity of this paragraph.

Care to confirm the dullness of it? Let's face it, "real" history is just too boring and so is history told by the Victors. I have never yet met a Victor capable of telling a story worth listening to.

Ahem.

All right, all right, I'm going.