How did this particular whistle develop?

March 1, 2007 3:11 PM

I'm looking for the origin of certain whistle tones. That is, how did the two note ascending and descending whistle ("wolf whistle") become the sound of appreciation for a comely female?

Also, how would you describe the three-note whistle that most folks make with two fingers applied to the lips (which I cannot do!) that indicates "Hey!" or "Pay attention!" ? Anyone know the history of that whistle? One last whistle question....this is an actual device, a small silver whistle, and when it's blown it makes a "whoooo" sound. It can be heard near the end of Supertramp's "The Logical Song;" it's also commonly used to punctuate a pratfall. Anyone know what this type of whistle is called?

posted by Oriole Adams to society & culture (9 comments total)

To answer the last question, it's a siren whistle.
posted by Merdryn at 3:37 PM on March 1, 2007

I haven't heard a three-note whistle before, but a two note whistle using your fingers is a "wolf whistle" (the same kind of whistle that you'll hear in a movie/TV when an attractive female walks into the scene). Here is theoretically how you do it, but I can't actually do it myself (even following directions).
posted by anaelith at 4:34 PM on March 1, 2007

I believe that the final part of your question is refering to a slide whistle
posted by .taft at 4:52 PM on March 1, 2007

From 'Whistling in Antiquity', here.

"Unfortunately the evidence for the existence of the notorious wolf-whistle, communicating sexual interest mainly by males of the human species, is very scant for the Greek and Roman past. It consists of only one episode in Plautus’ Mercator (403-408). Here the father Demipho says to his son Charinus with reference to the beautiful slavegirl they both secretly love and whom the son pretends to have bought for his mother: “I can’t permit it. She is hardly the proper sort of person to attend your mother.” Char.: “Why not?” Dem.: “Because it would cause scandal if such a beauty were the attendant of a wife and mother; when she passes through the streets all the men would look at her, leer, nod and wink and whistle (sibilent).”

posted by tellurian at 5:20 PM on March 1, 2007

The OED take on the gamspotter's mating call.
posted by rob511 at 9:38 PM on March 1, 2007

The three-note whistle I was referring to is the type of whistle you used to see/hear in old movies when someone was hailing a taxi. Maybe it's more like one sustained note that starts out high, slides down low, then returns to high....?

I found a wav of a siren whistle, and it was the correct one, thanks!

Thanks for the other responses.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:05 PM on March 1, 2007

Great first question. Fascinating response tellurian.

Merdryn is right about the siren whistle. I've seen them in both plastic and metal. The metal ones I associate with the 1920's (or latter musical shows about that era). I have one in plastic, but it's not quite the same as the metal ones.
posted by Goofyy at 11:08 PM on March 1, 2007

this page, contains all sorts of audio samples of whistles. The 3 note version appears a lot under various names.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 11:39 PM on March 1, 2007

My guess as to why these patterns exist is something like this:

Human hearing is most sensitive to frequencies around 1 to 2kHz- so if you want to attract somebody's attention then a noise around this pitch will be most likely to do it. It is also easiest for people to tell the direction that a sound is coming from around these frequencies - especially when the pitch changes. So a wolf whistle is a good psychoacoustic solution for saying "look over here" over the largest possible area. It is also reasonably easy to do and needs no tools to perform. Do other primates do something similar - yes[pdf]. I think it is therefore reasonable to assume humans have been whistling to attract attention - at least in most cultures - since pre-history.
posted by rongorongo at 2:24 AM on March 2, 2007