It seems to me that whistling is generally accepted by neighbors, co-workers, etc.- you’re having a lively day. Unusual, I suppose, and more prevalent among perhaps the older folks out there, but that’s ok. Of course if you start whistling entire scores to Broadway shows, people might start to back away slowly. (Not that I know anyone who does that, mind you.)
Humming is sort of accepted - as long as it’s not to loud. And you stop when someone comes up to you. Or you’re working on something, like building a house or carving up a cadaver. (Not that I know anyone who does that, mind you.)
But if you get caught singing to yourself - even softly - people kind of look at you funny. It seems they’re embarassed, like they walked in you mastrubating or something. (Not that I know anyone who does that, mind you.) And if you do it a lot, it’s as frowned upon as, say, talking to yourself.
When I sing, I feel like I’m baring my soul - which can be an uncomfortable experience.
I think that, deep down, humans know that whistling and humming are easy for others to tune out, but singing tends to grab a person’s attention and make them listen in spite of themselves. And then the singer exposes herself to judgement…
I also think it’s distracting (in a work environment, for example) and constitutes more of a violation of a person’s aural space; like OS-BIE said, you can tune out whistling/humming, but not really singing.
And let’s face it, no matter how much fun you have singing, most people aren’t good enough that other people want to hear it.
I was just thinking about this today, and I wish like hell it weren’t the case. I listen to music at work to help me focus and to keep myself upbeat, and it feels wrong somehow not to sing along. I know it would be inappropriate for me to do so (even quietly)although I don’t quite understand why (of course, I talk to myself too so maybe I’m not the person to answer this question).
You could sing the chorus to Crash Test Dummies’ “Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm Hmmm” over and over again.
I sing all the time. I’m not that good at it, according to my listeners, but this does not stop me, ever. I should mention that I am not employed by someone else, so I do not have co-workers to bother, but when I did, that didn’t stop me either. I guess I’m so used to people looking at me funny that I no longer notice it.
I sing all the time. Being the singer of a band I’m always working on something. Most of the time I try not to bother anyone with my singing, though occassionally I’ve been known to just belt something out in the middle of a crowd :D. It doesn’t bother me to hear others sing, it actually makes me happy because I love it so much that it’s nice to see others enjoying it too. There have been times that I’ve been desperate to sing if I haven’t been able to all day and I’ll quietly sing to myself, usually with my hands in front of my mouth so only I can hear myself. People have looked at me funny but it hardly bothers me.
Once I was shopping at IKEA and there was an employee there who was singing along with the music at the store and doing it rather loudly. She wasn’t a bad singer, but it did kind of make me uncomfortable that she was doing it in front of all the shoppers. Thinking about it I can’t explain why it bothered me exactly. I guess I felt embarrassed for her. It’s not that she “violated” my space, but everyone was staring at her and I felt like they wished she would stop.
I do tend to laugh at people singing and dancing while they drive though. It just looks funny when you can’t hear the song they are singing too.
I guess it depends on the work environment. I sing at work all the time, but I am currently working in the back part of a kitchen where the customers can’t hear me. The other 4 or 5 employees who work along side of me sing from time to time also, with varying degrees of success.
Whistling is more likely to drive me nuts, since more people whistle off-key than sing off-key. Or someone who only knows two lines of a song and keeps repeating them over and over until someone threatens to strangle them!
When I worked in an office or even in a factory setting, there much less likelihood of hearing someone singing. I think more people find it disruptive.
Be careful if you sing while riding a bike. A couple years ago I was listening to the Chili Peppers and singing along at about 60mph and I inadvertently ate a dragonfly. It was rather painful.
I both sing, and talk to myself, though talking to myself is the more common occurrence.
As for why it’s considered more annoying? It just is (what an enlightened explanation huh?), tuning out talking (quietly mind you), or humming comes naturally to me, singing I can’t seem to tune out as I tend to focus on listening to it, and if I’m trying to do something else that can get annoying*, and whistling just drives me insane.
This is more true of some activities then others, if I’m surfing the net or playing a computer game I can handle music, but if I’m reading or trying to go to bed it can be a pain. As for talking I’ve mastered the art of zoning that out. And humming along with most other background noises (like people hammering, or running a chainsaw) only take a few seconds to get adjusted to, some of my friends envy this trait.
I work in a lab where there is almost always music playing and if I know the song I sing along under my breath. One person has teased me about it but no one has given any evidence of being bothered by it. However, when I worked in a quiet office doing a desk job I didn’t sing. Just wasn’t appropriate in that environment. No one hummed or whistled there either. I find whistling far more distracting and annoying than humming or singing because it’s such a sharp sound that it’s near impossible to tune out. Unless you’re one of the relatively few people who can whistle without sounding shrill I’d rather you didn’t when I’m trying to work.