Megan in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is a singer, guitarist, and professional whistler. There’s a word for the last of these: puccalo, apparently coined by whistler Ron McCroby. Megan ends the episode with a sibilant sample of “La Vie en Rose.” This is...
An Indianapolis, Indiana, teacher and his class wonder about the origin of whistling in the dark, which means “to put on a brave face in a scary situation.” As it happens, the teacher’s band, The Knollwood Boys, recorded a song by the same name...
We all know that lusty two-note whistle directed at an attractive passerby. But how did that particular sound come about? If we trace the earliest record of that sound, known as a “wolf whistle,” we find this 1943 Tex Avery cartoon. This is part of...
“Whistling girls and cackling hens always come to some bad end,” said people in the olden days regarding transgressive women. A variation on this saying pops up in a 1911 book called Folk-Lore of Women by one Reverend Thomas Thiselton-Dyer. This is...
Today’s most popular dog names are Max and Bella. In the Middle Ages, though, dogs would answer to names like Amiable. Or Nosewise. Or even … Clench. ? Is the term redneck derogatory? Some folks proudly claim that name. They say it’s high time they...
You ain’t just whistling Dixie, and that’s the truth! Whistling Dixie, which refers to a studied carelessness, comes from the song that originated in minstrel shows and from which the South takes its nickname. But if you say someone ain’t just...