a. & n. from
Whistling buoy. (Naut.) See under
| Dictionary: Whis·tling |
a. & n. from
Whistling buoy. (Naut.) See under
| Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Whistling |
Various superstitions are connected with whistling. It has long been considered unlucky for women to whistle. It was unlucky for sailors to whistle aboard ship, because it was thought that doing so might raise a wind. It was also considered unlucky for miners to whistle in a mine, since this might be followed by an explosion.
A more recent superstition is that whistling in a theater or its dressing rooms may cause a play to fail.
| Boating Encyclopedia: Whistling |
Pursing the lips and blowing, in an appeal for better winds
In an old superstition of the sea, whistling was supposed to bring wind. This superstition took two forms. In the first, the rule was that a sailor never whistled on watch for fear of bringing bad weather. He could whistle during his off watch, but the theory was that if he whistled while on watch, it proved that he didn’t have enough to do and was idling. Because the gods of the wind and sea disliked idlers in their domain, they would soon provide him with an abundance of labor in the form of a storm. There was one exception to the rule, however. The bosun’s mate could whistle with impunity. The rest of the crew viewed him as an agent of the devil anyway, because he wielded the cat-o’-nine-tails.The second part of the whistling superstition concerned the practice among sailors in sailing-ship days of whistling for wind when the weather was calm. The Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge describes the process as follows: “plaintively entreating the winds for a breeze by whistling with the lips in a variety of soft continuous notes while facing the direction from which it was desired that the wind would increase or spring up. Earlier custom required that a group of men occupy a more prominent position, such as the poop, when thus engaged, especially during a lengthy spell of light airs and calms.”See also Doldrums.
| WordNet: whistling |
The noun has 3 meanings:
Meaning #1:
the sound made by something moving rapidly or by steam coming out of a small aperture
Synonym: whistle
Meaning #2:
the act of whistling a tune
Meaning #3:
the act of signalling (e.g., summoning) by whistling or blowing a whistle
Synonym: whistle
| Wikipedia: Whistling |
Human whistling is the production of sound by means of carefully controlling a stream of air flowing through a small hole. Whistling can be achieved by creating a small opening with one's lips and then blowing air out of the hole or sucking air into the hole. The air is moderated by the lips, tongue, teeth or fingers (placed over the mouth) to create turbulence, and the mouth acts as a resonant chamber to enhance the resulting sound by acting as a type of Helmholtz resonator. Whistling can also be produced by blowing air through enclosed, cupped hands or through an external instrument, such as a whistle or even a blade of grass or leaf.
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Non-instrumental whistling from the mouth can be accomplished in several ways:
A whistled tone is primarily a simple oscillation (or sine wave) produced in the resonant chamber, and thus timbral variations are slight. The pitch of a whistle can be altered by changing the volume and shape of the resonant chamber (most typically by using the tongue).
In duotone whistling, use of the lips and tongue are combined to produce two tones at once, which can also start and stop at different times, but must be close in pitch. Simple duets can be whistled solo in this way.
It is also possible to whistle and hum at the same time. With enough practice, it is possible for one to hum and whistle two separate melodies at the same time.
Some languages and code languages use whistles as a part of their communication; this is referred to as whistled speech.
"Loud whistling" is a non-musical type of whistling that used to indicate both satisfaction and displeasure, usually at, but not limited to, sporting events, political rallies, social gatherings, and movies. (Edward T. Hall, "Essential Do's and Taboos: The Complete Guide to International Business and Leisure Travel", 2007). It is also used as an attention-getter for such purposes as calling dogs, flagging down taxis and alerting bus passengers in India. This piercing style of whistling is very loud and the sound can carry very far. It can be made in a number of ways with and without use of the fingers.
One specific type of whistling called "wolf-whistling" can also be used to denote physical attractiveness in the one being whistled at. Though it was frequently heard in cartoons and films of the 50s and 60s, it is now considered very poor manners in the Western world and can even be considered a form of harassment in a professional setting. The usual setting is a man whistling at an attractive woman, but it can happen between virtually anyone. It may also be used jokingly as a compliment between closer individuals, in a romantic relationship, for example. It can also be directed to inanimate objects to signify appreciation, as with impressive buildings, or high-powered cars. The wolf-whistle usually consists of a pitch-bend up, a brief stop, followed by a quick pitch-bend up that smoothly comes back down in a continuous manner.
Whistling can be musical: many performers on the music hall and Vaudeville circuits were professional whistlers, the most famous of which were Ronnie Ronalde and Fred Lowery. Both had several notable songs featuring whistling.
Pucker whistling is the most common form of whistling used in most Western music. Typically, the tongue tip is lowered, often placed behind the lower teeth, and pitch altered by varying the position of the tongue body. In particular, the point at which the dorsum of the tongue approximates the palate varies from near the uvula (for low notes) to near the alveolar ridges (for high notes). Although varying the degree of pucker will change the pitch of a pucker whistle, expert pucker whistlers will generally only make small variations to the degree of pucker, due to its tendency to affect purity of tone.
By contrast, many expert musical palatal whistlers will substantially alter the position of the lips to ensure a good quality tone. Venetian gondoliers are famous for moving the lips while they whistle in a way that can look like singing.
The term puccalo refers to jazz whistling.
| Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009) |
Whistling in theatre, particularly on-stage, is considered extremely unlucky.[citation needed] Before the invention of electronic means of communication, sailors were often used as stage technicians, working with the complicated rope systems associated with flying. Coded whistles would be used to call cues, so it is thought that whistling on-stage may cause, for example, a cue to come early, a "sailor's ghost" to drop a batten or flat on top of an actor, or general bad luck in the performance.
In Russian and other Slavic cultures, whistling indoors is superstitiously believed to bring poverty ("whistling money away"), whereas whistling outdoors is considered normal. [2]
In Serbia, it is said that whistling indoors will attract mice,[citation needed] while in Korea and Japan, whistling is thought to bring snakes.[citation needed]
Whistling on board a sailing ship is thought to encourage the wind strength to increase. This is regularly alluded to the Aubrey-Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian.
In Hawaiian lore, whistling at night is considered bad luck because it mimics the sound of Nightmarchers.
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