Clean as a...

Post by **rich** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 10:25 am

It's that time of year here in the Great White North, and the winter carpets have appeared in the lobby of the office building in which I work.

I was standing on one the other day and noticed the brand name in the corner:

Whistle Kleen.

All I can imagine is that they've never seen the inside of one of my whistles.

But then I remembered that this isn't just a carpet, it's a saying -- "Clean as a Whistle". Whoever came up with that doesn't play whistle either.

I should get a picture of the Whistle Kleen truck.

<ul>-Rich</ul>


(Would you believe I misplet "Kleen", first time through?)

[ This Message was edited by: rich on 2001-12-12 11:25 ]

garycrosby · Post by **garycrosby** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 11:24 am

From a the Website (so it must be true, eh?) http://www.takeourword.com/Issue063.html we find (note the reference to Chiff and Fipple at the end):

What's the origin of as clean as a whistle?

Famed Scottish poet Robert "Rabbie" Burns (in his Author's Earnest Cry, 1786) provides us the first use of anything resembling the phrase clean as a whistle in writing: "Her mutchkin stowp as toom’s a whissle" For those readers not fluent in Lowlands Scots, this meant "Her pint bucket is as empty as a whistle". As a pair of dyed-in-the-wool penny-whistlers, we conjecture that Rabbie was familiar with this instrument, the implication being that if a whistle is not clear of obstruction inside, then it will not play properly.

Some have suggested that as clean as a whistle actually derives from as clear as a whistle. That explanation has the "clear" form meaning "pure" (as the pure sound of a whistle) and suggests that it is not a large leap from "pure" to "clean". We have found nothing to support this notion, however. A writer in 1828 defines as clean as a whistle as "a proverbial simile, signifying completely, entirely" but we have to wait until 1880 before as clear as a whistle appears in print.

While researching this we turned up the delightful phrase box of whistles, a contemptuous, puritanical term for a church organ. Alsop, writing in 1678 said that "Pope Vitalian..first..taught Mankind the Art of Worshipping God with a Box of Whistles".

Visit Dale Wisely's Chiff and Fipple web site for more information about whistles.

[ This Message was edited by: garycrosby on 2001-12-12 12:30 ]

brownja · Post by **brownja** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 11:32 am

This is just a guess, but i think "clean as a whistle" is a railroad term. The whistle gets steam blown through it. It's probably the only part of a locomotive that's not covered in soot, grease, etc.
Cheers,
jb

Jeferson · Post by **Jeferson** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 12:07 pm

We could probably compile a list of whistle sayings.

I'd add whistling past the graveyard to the list. Which other ones are out there?

Jef

ThorntonRose · Post by **ThorntonRose** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 12:15 pm

Wet your whistle.

Whistle while you work.

Ain't whistlin' Dixie.

...

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 1:06 pm

I really like this thread, including
the great research! Well, a whistle
might be the sound someone makes
when he whistles with his mouth--
as in 'Whistle and I'll come to you
my lad.' Sort of a simple upwardly rising note--as in a signal. Something
clean about it, I guess--simple, pure, quick
unencumbered. 'Clean' and 'clear' are
sometimes used as synonyms--as in
Kipling's Gunga Din when a bullet
'drills the beggar clean.' That means
it went clear through him. Maybe....

JayMitch · Post by **JayMitch** » Wed Dec 12, 2001 3:46 pm

Here is another explanation I found on the web:

[from http://www.word-detective.com/112897.html ]

It's somewhat unclear where the phrase "clean as a whistle" came from. The phrase actually has two meanings: "clean or pure" and "absolutely, completely." "Utterly or completely" is the original 18th century meaning -- a roof blown off in a tornado might be said to have been torn off "clean as a whistle," leaving no remnants. The "pure or unsullied" meaning ("Wash that deck until it's clean as a whistle, sailor") came later, and may have its roots in a misunderstanding of the sense of "clean" in the original phrase.

If that seems a little mysterious, the answer may lie in the fact that the original phrase wasn't really "clean as a whistle." Christine Ammer, in her book "Have A Nice Day -- No Problem, A Dictionary of Cliches," points to the phrase "clear as a whistle," very common in the 18th century. While spoken commands might be misunderstood in a noisy environment, no one could mistake a loud whistle for anything else, so "clear as a whistle" came to mean "unmistakable" or "unambiguous."

The later substitution of "clean" meaning "completely" for "clear" therefore makes a certain amount of sense, but the subsequent drift of "clean" in the phrase to mean "pure" is what has led to folks like you wondering "what's so clean about whistles?"

pixyy · Post by **pixyy** » Thu Dec 13, 2001 2:47 am

On 2001-12-12 13:07, Jeferson wrote:
We could probably compile a list of whistle sayings.

From Webster's Dictionary:

to make a demand without result > did a sloppy job so he can whistle for his money

WHISTLE IN THE DARK: to keep up one's courage by or as if by whistling

WHISTLE-BLOWER
Function: noun
Date: 1970
: one who reveals something covert or who informs against another <pledges to protect whistle-blowers who fear reprisals -- Wall Street Journal>

WOLF WHISTLE
Function: noun
Date: 1946
: a distinctive whistle sounded by a boy or man to express sexual admiration for a girl or woman in his vicinity