Not Just Whistlin’ Dixie

The Conversation

Her (w/Jamaican accent): You whistle like a man.

Me:   … oh, ok …(sudden extended silence) …  … wait.   HUH?

Her: I’ve never heard a woman whistle like that. I can hear you whistlin’ all over.

What the heck does that mean? Whistling ability is gender specific and mine is wrong? I’m really a guy in a girl’s body? Was there a POINT to that remark?

All the way home from work I’m thinking to myself “Have I ever heard another woman whistle the way I do? Or only men? Is there something WRONG with me?”

I loved listening to my dad whistle when I was a kid and now I do it. If I’m deep in thought, I may be whistling away and not even know it.

weird. Just weird.

3 comments so far

  1. Debbie G on January 31st, 2006

    That’s very… odd.

    I never thought of whistling as being gender-specific. We probably whistle alike, since I picked it up the same way you did.

    Now I’m going to have to be conscious of what other whistlers sound like and see if there really is a gender line of some sort!

  2. Eitan on December 10th, 2006

    Some ladies have excellent whistling skills,
    and nobody can tell them they sound like men.

    Here’s a site with some of the world’s greatest female whistlers, of the past and present:

    http://north_wrong_tune.tripod.com/

  3. Eitan on December 12th, 2006

    There are some flaws in the site linked to on my previous comment.

    The correct link to Linda Parker Hamilton’s site is:
    http://www.northernnightingale.com/

    The correct link to UC site about Emily Eagen (with a sample of her whistling) is:
    http://www.magazine.uc.edu/0101/whistler.htm

    Both sound great !!

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