I was watching a football game today and they delayed the game while the Referee unfroze his whistle. Did make me grin realizing just how important that whistle really was. Seems there are not a lot of extra whistles laying around. You would think the Ref. would just grab a spare one from a warming cabinet. Who makes whistles anyway? Looks like the company would advertise, like Nike. Some nifty little whistling commercial. You know a happy little tune. Whistle while you work kind of thing...
Wet your whistle or is it whet your whistle? Easy to get that confused. Whet your appetite comes to mind as being correct, but I have not used that term in a number of years. I've been around three score and ten, and my guess, I could count the times I've used the term on one hand.
I’ve seen both “whet your whistle” and “wet your appetite,” and neither correct. Most people’s lips don’t need to be any sharper, and appetites aren’t aroused by giving them a good soaking.
Wet Your Whistle...Seems this phrase has been around for a while. Don't really think there's a hidden meaning in wet—probably some ole Saxon word meaning moist, quench or liquid. Whistle is a little harder to decipher. It may refer to a person’s lips or throat. I think it came from a time when pub regulars used whistles to order more drinks. I would bet a whistle was part of the mug, built into either the rim or handle. I went digging on the web and could find no example of Ye Olde Whistle Mug. I'm sure one wet ones whistle before one whistled? I know you just can't whistle with dry lips. A word of caution, don't wet your whistle in freezing weather.
Now to whet your appetite is almost the opposite. Whereas wetting your whistle quenches your thirst, whetting your appetite, sharpens. Whet, probably another ole Saxon term. Blades are whetted by whetstones. Appetites are whetted by tasty morsels or glimpses of interesting or desirable things. Like...bring me some corn nuts or moose jerky to whet my appetite. Another word of caution. It's best to eat coconut while you still have your teeth. I know that has nothing to do with what we are discussing, but it did cross my mind.
I did a very unsophisticated test on the Internet and Googled “wet your whistle” and had 426,000 hits, the majority directed towards drinking. “Whet your whistle” resulted in 421,000 hits, the majority of the answers related to stimulating further thought or experience processes. Now you have a good basis to go scratching around for more information and draw your own conclusion on this important discussion.
I asked my friend Jess B Rambling about this subject, as I often do on the more puzzling aspects of life. Jess is anal about placing language in its proper order and knowing when to use whom. He said "whistle was a metonym." "Kinda started out as one meaning and just morphed into another." Makes a lot of sense to me...just an ole Saxon morphing-ism.
I was around this crazy ole uncle years many years back. I recall when he used the term " I'm going to whet my whistle", it meant he was going to relieve himself. See how I'm being appropriate and not using the word pee? I'm just that way. Don't want to offend anyone...:)
Did you know the opening in a whistle where you blow is called a fipple ? Hell I didn't. Never thought of it. I know I'm glad the ref's whistle had so much spit it froze up. Learned something new, got to talk to an old friend, explored the deep recesses of my mind, even pondered on Uncle Rufus for a spell. Hell, I think I will design a little whistle koozee warmer. Jess, how do you spell Koozee?
Not half that bad on a good day...Doc
