# Can you perform this simple, common feat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160 "2010-07-09T22:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/1 "2010-07-09T22:34:53Z")
The thread title is left intentionally vague so as not to bias the sample. If and when a mod comes along to change it, could you please note the results to date? Thanks much. Anyway, I’ve been able to whistle since I was 7 or 8, and now it’s hard for me to grok how people are unable to do it. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/2 "2010-07-09T23:13:37Z")
Whenever I feel afraid I hold my head erect And whistle a happy tune So no one will suspect I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/3 "2010-07-09T23:16:40Z")
I’ve considered starting a thread asking how. I’ve never been able to whistle a sound and no one’s been able to teach me. My husband, on the other hand, has been stopped by strangers asking him if he’s a professional whistler. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/4 "2010-07-09T23:17:26Z")
I’m the only one in my family that can whistle. I don’t know why. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/5 "2010-07-09T23:21:42Z")
Yes I can, and I’m amused that the tune I picked to reassure myself that I can still do it (and without considering the tune beforehand) was Jethro Tull’s “The Whistler.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/6 "2010-07-09T23:46:47Z")
I’ve never been able to whistle. Granted, I haven’t spend a huge amount of time trying to learn, but I did try for a few minutes in my teenage years. I was very worried as a young boy to read in Ian Fleming’s novel _The Man with the Golden Gun_ that, when James Bond reads the secret service profile on Mr. Scaramanga (the eponymous villain), Bond learns that Scaramanga is probably a homosexual, since he _is incapable of whistling_! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/7 "2010-07-09T23:56:47Z")
You said nothing about it being on-key, so I said yes. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/8 "2010-07-10T00:17:53Z")
Yep. Well it’s not that great but I can wistle Happy Birthday. I can wistle pretty loud when calling the dogs. But I can’t for the life of me do that very loud wistle that you use your fingers for. I can do the cupped hand wistle and control the tone pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/9 "2010-07-10T00:23:58Z")
Barely, so I went with option 3. Usually I’ll try a note which is too high (or low), and all that will come out is the sound of whooshing air. And I’ve tried to fingers-in-the-mouth method until I was blue in the face, to no avail. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/10 "2010-07-10T00:36:41Z")
I can whistle both inhaling and exhaling, so I don’t have to stop. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/11 "2010-07-10T00:40:19Z")
Definitely yes…I’m not quite an expert, but close. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/12 "2010-07-10T00:58:43Z")
I’m being difficult. Is the question “Can you whistle,” or is it “can you whistle a tune?” Because those are two different things for me. Yes I can whistle. No I cannot whistle something others can discern as recognizable tune. Sounds fine in my head… ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/13 "2010-07-10T01:12:03Z")
I have never been able to whistle; when my allergies get really bad, I can sort of control my wheezing. . .does that count? I voted ‘no’. Ironically, I can carry a tune, and my hubby cannot, but when _he_ whistles, I can tell what he’s whistling. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/14 "2010-07-10T02:23:11Z")
I can whistle pretty well, and there’s the occasion when it is actually in the right key, but I’m certainly no Roger Whittaker. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/15 "2010-07-10T02:26:48Z")
I’m pretty good at it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/16 "2010-07-10T02:39:11Z")
I can whistle tunes easily enough. What I \*can’t \*do is that thing where you put a couple of fingers in your mouth and let loose with a shrill piercing whistle. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/17 "2010-07-10T02:43:03Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I can whistle both inhaling and exhaling, so I don’t have to stop. That’s the professional way to do it. It’s like circle breathing. Anyways, I recently picked up vibrato, so I sound good. And yet, I was really late learning, at least, according to everyone around me. I learned it near the same time I learned to blow a gum bubble–at 11 years old. But once I could make sound, my inherent musicality took over. If there’s a way to make different pitches with something, I always seem to be able to figure out how to play it by ear (one note at a time, at least). It’s just getting over the initial hurdle of making it make a sound, and of tone quality. As for how to whistle, make an R [ɹ] with your tongue, creating a round groove, round your lips into a tight , and blow _very_ lightly. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/18 "2010-07-10T02:45:20Z")
Can’t say why not, but no. Air goes out, but doesn’t sound even vaguely like a whistle, no matter how I hold my lips or moisten them (if that’s what it takes) or dry them (ditto). But I can sing a little. And I have other talents. So I’m satisfied, regardless. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/19 "2010-07-10T02:55:04Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > I’ve never been able to whistle. Granted, I haven’t spend a huge amount of time trying to learn, but I did try for a few minutes in my teenage years. I was very worried as a young boy to read in Ian Fleming’s novel _The Man with the Golden Gun_ that, when James Bond reads the secret service profile on Mr. Scaramanga (the eponymous villain), Bond learns that Scaramanga is probably a homosexual, since he _is incapable of whistling_! :eek: I remember that! And M, who is reading the dossier, immediately whistles. I suspect practically everyone who read the book did the same. Regards, Shodan PS - tweeeeeeet. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160/20 "2010-07-10T03:04:03Z")
My dad is a big whistler and I taught myself to do it when I was 4. I can also whistle inhaling and exhaling. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-perform-this-simple-common-feat/546160.md?page=2)