Whistling as an International Art

The human whistle as music, language, common habit, and taboo

Aug 3, 2006

In some cultures whistling is impolite, even taboo. But it is on the decline also where it was common in music or as a custom, and even where it is part of the language.

Everyone can whistle, but whistling well is something else. Toots Thielemans, a Belgian national treasure, whistles well. Though better known as a mouth-harmonica player (he played the Midnight Cowboy theme song), Belgians love him for his whistling.

On the whole, whistling wasn't and isn't really very prominent in Belgian or European entertainment (though The Beatles whistled a fair amount), and it is a lot less popular as a habit now than in my grandparents' time. But in general we still appreciate a well-whistled tune.

No one in Belgium will stare if you whistle a tune in the subway. Not so in North America, it seems. Whistling as a habit used to be fashionable here: Bogart whistled on ill-lit street corners, Gene Kelly while singing in the rain, and the seven dwarfs while they worked. Nowadays the X-files theme is meant to be eerie, uncommon. No one whistles out of habit any more.

And whistling as a deliberate art has acquired a "hokey" reputation. And who uses the expressions 'whistling Dixie' anymore (as in unrealistic fantasizing or not taking a matter seriously)? Or 'whistling in the dark' or 'by the graveyard' (as in presenting confidence in the face of danger or defeat)?

If the children of Gomera, one of the Canary Islands, weren't taught "el Siblo Gomero" in school, it would die out in one generation. Whistling is also part of the language among the Yupik Eskimos in Alaska, in parts of South America, in Turkey, Spain, West Africa, Nepal, Burma and New Guinea. Mostly it facilitates communication over great distances and during the hunt. But with the spread of technology, it is in severe danger of extinction.

In many cultures whistling has never been appreciated. In India, for instance, whistling is as rude as winking or touching someone with your shoes or feet. Also in Russia, whistling in public is as bad as showing soles of the shoes when sitting. In Korea it is considered bad luck, especially when done by women. Also among Muslims, whistling is frowned upon, because it might attract demons. In an older Europe, whistling could be bad luck, on ships for instance (on a par, I guess, with bringing a woman on board). In Goethe's Faust, the angels sang, but the Devil whistled.

The copyright of the article Whistling as an International Art in Holiday Entertaining is owned by Katrien Vander Straeten. Permission to republish Whistling as an International Art in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.