I cleaned something today and I thought, "Wow, that's clean as a whistle!" Then I thought of what a stupid expression that is. A whistle, unless you just took it out of the package, is something people blow in. And put their mouth on. How can a whistle be clean? I mean yuck. I don't even eat childrens' birthday cakes because they blew on them. So I was wondering where the expression originated and I couldn't find a lot but I found this site. That site thinks it came from the sound of a whistle. But that doesn't make much more sense to me. If we're going to use sounds to describe cleanliness we'd say things like, "My teenager's room is a as clean as an 80's metal cover band guitar riff." And that would just be silly.Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Whut?
I cleaned something today and I thought, "Wow, that's clean as a whistle!" Then I thought of what a stupid expression that is. A whistle, unless you just took it out of the package, is something people blow in. And put their mouth on. How can a whistle be clean? I mean yuck. I don't even eat childrens' birthday cakes because they blew on them. So I was wondering where the expression originated and I couldn't find a lot but I found this site. That site thinks it came from the sound of a whistle. But that doesn't make much more sense to me. If we're going to use sounds to describe cleanliness we'd say things like, "My teenager's room is a as clean as an 80's metal cover band guitar riff." And that would just be silly.
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7 comments:
I so totally love how your mind works...
How about neat as a pin? Or, easy as pie? Pies aren't easy to make, I've made them. They can be fairly complicated, especially to get the crust just right.
LOL - You need a vacation in Miami! :)
Jazz,
~~Hey! Your mind works the same way, you just don't post it.
Ian,
~~I've never made a pie, but I believe you. Neat as a pin? Yeah, what's that all about?
Scarlet,
~~I am vacationed out. Besides, I already told you, I'm too fat to go to Miami.
I'll only give you lite beer and mojitos...I promise. ;)
Oh! Oh! The answer is: in order for a reed or a piece of wood to be able to give a whistle it had to be really clean and well whittled (which is another/companion origin of the phrase-- "cleanly whittled")
Scarlet,
~~Hee hee!
xup,
~~Okay. That makes sense. But just try to say "well whittled whistle" three times in a row.
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