# I Pit whistlers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 9, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054 "2007-08-09T18:49:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/21 "2007-08-09T20:35:18Z")
There is little in this world that annoys me as much as whistling. I don’t know why, but it just grates on every one of my nerves. I can’t fucking stand it, and if one person were soley responsible for the invention of whistling and his demise would prevent any future existence of the horrid noise, I would gladly strangle him with his own cock. In short, I’m with you on this one **tdn** FWIW, I too am a musician and a drummer. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/22 "2007-08-09T21:07:27Z")
The only time I whistle is if, in discussing a song with someone, they ask me “How does that song go?” I’m too self-conscious to sing even a short refrain by myself (when there’s safety in numbers, I’m fine), but I do have a musical background so I know I can whistle something actually identifiable if necessary. I’d say I’m an above-average whistler (probably in the top 10%), but I don’t really enjoy doing it, so it’s more of a functional (albeit infrequent) thing for me. ---
**Author:** ![santosvega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@santosvega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/santosvega)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/23 "2007-08-09T21:11:12Z")
I have to say that, if it helps, I’m an extraordinarily good whistler . . . actually that might make it more irritating on account of the loudness and trilliness. **Brewha** and **tdn** , do you do any composing/arranging? Most of my compositions or arrangements begin their lives as idle whistling/humming, and I haven’t been able to find any alternate method. I will say that a _huge_ pet peeve of mine is those whistlers who feel compelled to whistle whenever someone else is whistling, inevitably a different and unrelated tune. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/24 "2007-08-09T21:18:07Z")
You wanna whistle in your own sound studio? Go nuts, it won’t bother me. You wanna whistle while your walking slowly down the center of the hallway, so I have to walk behind you and endure it? Don’t be surprised to get a size 12 up your ass. ETA - that is not meant as a threat. I would only _feel_ like booting you in the ass, I likely wouldn’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/25 "2007-08-09T23:30:44Z")
I’m annoyed by people who whistle along to music. I briefly dated a guy who whistled along to whatever was on the radio; whistling and Metallica just don’t go together, ok? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/26 "2007-08-10T00:17:38Z")
I only like whistling when I’m doing it. No worries, I only do it alone, in my house and quite, quite privately. Yes, I’m a closet whistler. I will add people who crack their knuckles to this list. Ga-go gross someone else out, please! (where’s the disgust smiley?) ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/27 "2007-08-10T00:25:29Z")
Plus, his mama’s an ugly beeyotch. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/28 "2007-08-10T00:29:25Z")
At my workplace, we just found out that it is apparently against the rules to whistle. A maintenance man heard someone in our department whistling and complained to my boss’s boss’s boss. Why? He had apparently been reprimanded for whistling 10 years ago, so he tattled! However, this has managed to quell my boss’s repeated renditions of “It’s a Grand Old Flag”, “The Army Goes Rolling Along”, and some song that’s apparently sung in a Lutheran Church, so it’s not all bad. Not bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/29 "2007-08-10T00:52:09Z")
As my mother always used to tell me, “A whistling girl and a crowing hen always come to some bad end.” My 12-y-o son is REALLY annoyed when I do that kind of breathy, purring whistle when he’s playing a piece on the piano that I recognize. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/30 "2007-08-10T01:30:31Z")
My dad likes to whistle. It wouldn’t be so bad except that, 99.5 percent of the time, he is whistling “Doe, A Deer” on a continuous loop. He knows how irritating it can be, but it’s not like that song is a conscious choice. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/31 "2007-08-10T04:01:04Z")
There is a watch repair shop in town (well, there was, I haven’t been there in almost 20 years…), and the guy had signs on the wall behind the counter “Whislters will be charged double”, “unruly children will be deep fried and eaten”, and some others that were really obnoxious. That guy didn’t like whistlers either. Plus, he was an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/32 "2007-08-10T07:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=RedSwinglineOne] My only problem with whistlers is whistling strikes me as a conscious effort to tell everybody,“Look at me! I’m so damn happy I can’t contain myself! I’m bursting with song!” [/QUOTE] And this is a problem why? Are we supposed to be unhappy? ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/33 "2007-08-10T15:05:15Z")
[QUOTE=brewha] You wanna whistle in your own sound studio? Go nuts, it won’t bother me. You wanna whistle while your walking slowly down the center of the hallway, so I have to walk behind you and endure it? Don’t be surprised to get a size 12 up your ass. [/QUOTE] You know, the way you breathe really annoys me. If you really have to, please do it in private. I shouldn’t be forced to endure your breathing in a public place. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/34 "2007-08-10T15:16:17Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] As my mother always used to tell me, “A whistling girl and a crowing hen always come to some bad end.” [/QUOTE] Well, yes, obviously whistling is man’s work. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/35 "2007-08-10T15:22:02Z")
I’m a whistler. I know nothing about music. But the crazy woman I work with, who is a musician, told me that I have almost perfect pitch when whistling. Sadly my singing has never been similarly complimented. I’ll stick to whistling. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/36 "2007-08-10T15:25:31Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] My 12-y-o son is REALLY annoyed when I do that kind of breathy, purring whistle when he’s playing a piece on the piano that I recognize. [/QUOTE] I’m with your son on that. “Mooooooom! Shut uuuuuuuuuup!” You know what else I hate? People that hum along with songs. Except that they’ve never heard the song before. The notes that they hum, therefore, are entirely random. Yeah, it adds so much to the song with you grunting all the way through it. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/37 "2007-08-10T15:27:22Z")
[QUOTE=athelas] You know, the way you breathe really annoys me. If you really have to, please do it in private. I shouldn’t be forced to endure your breathing in a public place. 😛 [/QUOTE] I wasn’t aware that whistling is necessary for living. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/38 "2007-08-10T15:29:10Z")
My whistle-fu is not only lacking, it’s completely absent. I can make a rather pathetic wheezy tweet if I inhale, but nothing resembling the birdsong glory that my husband can conjure up. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/39 "2007-08-10T15:39:40Z")
I’m with **Team of Scientists** and **Suburban Plankton** , I’m afraid. I never whistle (I can, I just don’t), but I hum incessantly. Not even to music - oh, no, it’s to my own personal private soundtrack. Most of the time I’m not even aware I’m doing it. It’s a reflexive sort of thing. It’s only when I’m in a good mood, though - it’s a lot like a cat purring. (Good analogy, **SomeUserName**!) Hell, my friends occasionally laugh at me because I will be humming while listening to my mp3 player - but the song I’m humming has no relation to the song playing at the time. They’re totally unrelated. Frequently, they’re not even the same genre of music, let alone the same actual song. It never seems to be very loud, and when I notice it, I stop, but it’s not something I’m doing consciously. I also do the finger drumming thing - although I _did_ manage to train myself to do it silently. It’s the movement I seem to require, not the actual sound. But then, I also bounce my legs up and down and swing my knee back and forth while I’m sitting. I’m constitutionally incapable of sitting completely still for any length of time. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054/40 "2007-08-10T19:40:15Z")
[QUOTE=Scarlett67] My cockatiel farts in your general direction. [/QUOTE] And probably sounds better than most whistlers. My tiel is a superb whistler…he’s \*almost \* got “Dixie” down. I feel proud to have taught him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-whistlers/415054.md?page=3)