Click on “Read More” for the full transcript.
We used Temi to auto
transcribe this, then Dan went through and checked it based on the show notes.
He tried really hard on it, but this kind of stuff isn't his specialty. So if
you notice anything confusing, please comment on this post so Dan can look at
it and clarify anything.
Shauna: 00:00 Welcome
to bunny trails, a whimsical adventure of idioms and other turns of phrase. I'm
Shauna Harrison
Dan: 00:06 and
I'm Dan Pugh. Each week we delve into the origin and history of an idiom or
other turn of phrase and discuss how it's been used over time. This often takes
us down some fun and interesting research rabbit holes. Last week we talked
about whetting your appetite with whet being spelled W. H. E. T. This week
we're going to talk about wetting your whistle with wet, spelled W. E. T. Now
these two phrases sound like the same root, but in fact they have different
etymologies and the phrases are about 250 years apart.
Dan: 00:39 I
mean geologically it's really short. Language wise, it's really not even that
long. All things considered, but it is as old as the United States, which means,
you know, we act like teenagers so you know its teenage years I guess and
stuff.
Shauna: 00:55 I
mean though, I'm just thinking like from generation to generation, it's not
like the two things originated with the same even set of people, you know?
Dan: 01:04 Yeah.
Especially if their lifespans weren't super long, although, although they lived
a lot longer, as in the group of people that lived long time lived longer...
The averages are thrown off by the amount of people who died at childbirth. All
right, so from the Oxford English dictionary wet your whistle is "To take
a drink."
Dan: 01:25 Usually
this drink is alcoholic, but not always. The phrase "to wet ones"
something has also been used with weasand, mouth, beak and beard, all with the
same meeting.
Dan: 01:47 While
whet, W H E T whet came to us from the old Norse and Germanic roots, meaning to
sharpen, wet W E T wet comes to us through a different old Norse word as well
as old English roots all meaning "moist or liquid". One comes from
"to sharpen" the other comes from "to moisten". And that
holds true for W E T wet today as the Oxford English dictionary says "to
make an object humid or moist by the application of water or other
liquid."
Dan: 02:18 I
want to apologize now. Uh, we're going to say the word moist a couple of times.
And I know for some people that's like... that's one of my favorite words, but
it's some people's least favorite word.
Dan: 02:44 I
actually... stop it. It, oh, you know, it's not even so much that somebody else
says it. It's when I have to say it.
Shauna: 02:50 I
see. Oh, that's funny because, um, I think that's how I feel about moist. Like
it's not generally a word that bothers me except when it's referring to certain
things and I don't know. I don't know.
Dan: 03:01 All
right, so "weasand" that's an old word for the throat. Sometimes it
referred to the Esophagus, like the food and drink pipe or sometimes it meant
the trachea, the breathing pipe or sometimes a whole area, you know, your
gullet. So the other's mouth, beak, and beard, all associated with the area
where you drink. And that is where whistle comes in. The OED defines whistle as
"a jocular name for the mouth or throat as used in speaking or
singing."
Dan: 03:28 When
we are talking about whistle, obviously it means other things too. But one of
the things that whistle means is it's a, it's just a jocular name for the mouth
or throat because it's associated with singing
Dan: 03:41 Yes.
Yeah. Right. And so all of these things, whistle, weasand, mouth, beak, beard,
all are associated with that area where we sing or speak, but also where we drink.
The first time we see this in print is most likely Chaucer's The Reeves Tale,
"So was her jolly whistle while wet."
Dan: 04:00 And
this was written around the late 13 hundreds. We think about 1386 for many of
Chaucer's works. We also see it again in the 14 hundreds in the Towneley Plays.
I saw several places where this was cited as the first time it was a tested as
well. Uh, dating middle English works is hard and so there is, there could be
some truth to one being before the other. Uh, although this does seem to
indicate there's like a, you know, 60 year gap, but a, in the Townely Plays,
they wrote, "had she once wet her whistle, she could sing full
clear."
Shauna: 04:36 Now,
I mean it's still obviously the same things. They're like her jolly whistle
well wet and once wet her whistle she could sing full clear. So it's saying the
same things exactly there.
Dan: 04:46 Right.
I'm going to need your assistance here on these next two cause there's some
French, uh, words or at least, well, you'll see. So at 1530, John Palsgrave
wrote a textbook called...
Dan: 05:02 Well
anyway, it's an English book despite his French title and it was a textbook. It
was meant to help English speakers learn French.
Shauna: 05:09 Okay,
so this is a middle English spelling of Francois. Sorry about that. So that
last where it should have been Francois.
Dan: 05:23 We
also see it in the 17 hundreds and 1722 as they translated Aesop's fables and
said, "I'll give you a dram to wet your whistle."
Dan: 05:37 Well,
it's less than that, so it's a, it's a medicinal thing. It's meant for
medicinal purposes when you're using a dram. So in the Wilmington and Delaware
advertiser in the August 10th, 1826 issue, this is out of Wilmington, Delaware.
"Mr. Stanley, the antagonist of Cabbot for parliamentary honors at Preston
England is said to him, spent during the canvass, 1000 pounds sterling per day
in distributing drink, banners, and favors. -Franklin, would call this pain.
Not only 'too much for his whistle', but a great deal too much to 'wet the
whistle' of others. "
Dan: 06:16 That
does seem like a lot. That's a lot now I guess. Really, I don't know. I guess
it depends on who you're, who's whistles your wetting here. And I also couldn't
figure out who Franklin was because it was theirs. So it might've been
described in the one sentence that got cut off just before I started. But the,
um, the micro film that this was used from was slightly damaged and so there
was a little bit of damage to the top and I just couldn't read what that was.
So not sure who Franklin was. It could be Benjamin Franklin, but who knows? I
don't know
Dan: 06:45 Right?
It would not be if it was Benjamin Franklin, it would not be him actually
saying that about this specific thing. It would be them quoting him, saying,
you know, whatever. Like he would call this, not that he did call this. So
that's why I think they were talking about Benjamin Franklin because he would
have said is what they meant.
Dan: 07:05 So
in 1849, Charles Dickens, uh, in his novel, David Copperfield said "The
wine shall be kept to wet your whistle".
Dan: 07:12 So
we continue to see this used, uh, starting in the 13 hundreds and now even into
the 18, the mid 18 hundreds where we're still talking about the same concept.
We are wetting a whistle to have a drink basically to, and in most cases we're
talking alcohol here. I found a very alliteratively pleasing a article. I'm not
gonna read all of it, but it is a three chapter book. Each chapter is about one
paragraph and it was printed in the Bourbon News on June 18th, 1897. And this
was out of Paris, Paris, Kentucky. This is in chapter two where it says
"Working wits, Wilford Watson went womanwards with whiskey. Winnie Wessel,
wayworn wheelwoman, was wheezing. Watson winked wickedly. Worldly widow with
wilted weeds, wearily wet whistle with welcome whiskey."
Dan: 08:06 This,
this entire, uh, three, three paragraphs is all words that start with W. This
was, uh, from a very, very, very short story called Wilford Watson's Wooing.
Dan: 08:18 And
literally everything in it starts with a W. It's a very interesting, so in
1919, How are you going to wet your whistle was a song, uh, and the, the song
was called, "How are you going to wet your whistle when the whole darn
world goes dry?" 1919, of course was the start of prohibition in the United
States. Uh, and this was a song written by Francis Byrne, Frank McIntyre, and
Percy Wenrich, or maybe (Ven-rick) depending on what his ancestry was, but the,
uh, I'm going to post a picture of the cover art of this, of the sheet music
that a, I got the image from the Lester S Levy sheet music collection. So I
will try and link to that and a and have this option there for everyone to look
at. But uh, it is a very, it's a very good piece of art I think. And I think it
really captures the concept of the time.
Shauna: 09:17 Okay.
So is that like a whole different paradigm that we just aren't exposed to any
more? Is the impact of sheet music on society?
Dan: 09:27 Uh,
yeah. Likely. I think there was only, there was only a small window where we
went from putting sheet music out that would have been publicly available to
having it in a format that would be considered the modern era as a relatively
short amount of time that those, that, those two things happened. But, uh, we
see this in the early 19 hundreds, uh, especially in the United States. Uh, and
I say it, especially the United States because that's where I see it the most,
but there is a, an amazing set of opportunities to, to really push things
through in music that would be readily available. John Philip Sousa as a great
example, uh, the music of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter, right, of the
Gershwins. Like these are all amazing opportunities to push forth ideas in a
timeframe when that would be the best way to get your ideas across to another
group of people.
Shauna: 10:21 Yeah,
absolutely. I mean, Showbiz I guess has always kind of been the place where,
uh, where some of that was pushed out early on. Yeah.
Dan: 10:28 Now
we're back to whet your whistle. W.H.E.T and I mentioned this last week, so I
want to mention it again real quick. Just in case you haven't caught last
week's episode or it's you know, been a week since you listened. So as I
mentioned last week, there've been examples in the word wet w h e t being used
in conjunction with the phrase wet your whistle. And this is as far back as the
late 16 hundreds. The example I gave was Thomas Flatmans work Belly God, where
he wrote "first whet thy whistle with some good Methelgin"
Dan: 10:56 And
methelgin as we said last week as a spiced mead that's usually associated with
the country of Wales. Uh, but again these are just inappropriate uses of wet w
e t as part of the phrase
Shauna: 11:09 Today's
show is sponsored by our patrons on Patreon. You make bunny trails possible.
We'd like to thank all of our patrons and especially our lagomorphology
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Dan: 11:49 There
are beer glasses that you can purchase that have a whistle built into them. And
this ties into the false stories that wet my whistle originated with wetting
meaning drinking and whistle, meaning the action done to get the attention of
the bartender. So when this phrase was coined, if you wanted another drink, you
just went to the bar and got one. Uh, if you happen to be in an upscale enough
place where somebody might be waiting on your Beck and call, you would not have
whistled add them. They would come to you otherwise.
Dan: 12:19 Uh,
so, so there are some stories that even say that there was a whistle in beer
mugs and you just blew the whistle when you were out and boom, someone would
bring you another one. So here's the thing, I spent a summer bartending.
Shauna, I know you spent more time in the service industry than I did as a
wait... as wait staff.
Dan: 12:36 All
right. So imagine a drunkard whistling every time they wanted another beer by
blowing on their... uh, their beer mug. How long would that last?
Dan: 12:50 One
whistle before that whistle has found its way into someone's nose or other
orifice I would think.
Shauna: 12:57 Yeah,
definitely. I mean, I served people their coffee, I'm not sure which, uh, which
one is people demand more coffee or in the morning or beer in the evening?
Dan: 13:09 Sure.
I would, I would, uh... Wait staff in general already get the brunt of some of
that as a, in a service industry, but then female wait staff, uh, even more so
and uh, and as a bartender I was behind the counter, so I would, I would
occasionally come out and help out and bar back or something like that. But
normally I just stayed behind the counter and I didn't have to deal with most
of that stuff and I could just cut people off. Like, I don't know how you cut
them off for coffee. Yeah. Sorry. You've had too much. Your hands are all
shaking.
Shauna: 13:37 No,
ours was totally like the limitless coffee too, it was like the endless cup of
coffee.
Dan: 13:42 You
get that, you get the old guys that show up at like the, you know, the, well,
it depends on where you are. It could be the local Walmart or it could be the,
if they have a coffee place or it could be the local Mcdonald's or it could be
the, uh, you know, just a local cafe coffee shop if you're in a small town.
Yeah. You had that kind.
Shauna: 13:59 Ah,
yeah. Oh Gosh. The first place I worked, I'd kind of forgotten about that. That
one actually, my, the very first service job I had, uh, was a small town cafe.
And that's exactly what it was, was, you know, just people who've lived in
that, in that area for decades. And, um, I remember one time, uh, this, this
old gentleman pulled me onto his lap and I was like, that will not happened
again.
Dan: 14:30 Listen,
you can't touch people without their permission no matter what. No, no ands,
ifs or buts, that's it.
Dan: 14:44 All
right, well, uh, so let's, let's talk about food shops. I saw a variety of wet
my whistle food places, that was the name of them, including everything from
health, food stores to restaurants. Most of them had closed. So, uh, but I did
see such a variety of them while I was searching for a different, uh, you know,
ways it's used today that, uh, I thought I might mention that.
Dan: 15:05 I
also want to mention the 1983 song Wet my Whistle by Midnight Star, it's an
R&B song. Some of the lyrics include wet my whistle, wet my whistle, wet my
whistle. Just like sweet wine baby. Your loves intoxicating. Why'd I have to
waste it, it was much too good to waste it.
Dan: 15:39 No,
no, no, no. I mean maybe that wasn't my intention. My intention is to impress
upon you how truly awful this particular song is.
Dan: 15:49 No,
the rest of the song lyrics are just repeating the same words, including a
variety of oh babies. Oh babies.
Dan: 15:56 No,
I didn't because, well all I want to do is I'm just proving that songs with
only a few words of happened long before the likes of Justin Bieber or Taylor
swift or even born. So, uh, anytime a baby boomer, all offense to, to baby
boomers at this point, anytime a baby boomer wants to be like "that
kid" "back in my day we wrote better"
Dan: 16:18 No
you didn't. You didn't. Sorry. I mean there are just the good songs back then
as there are good songs now and the things that were popular then were except
for the tiny window in which you were a teenager and a young adult. You like
the popular things and then after that you didn't like the new stuff, the new
fangled things that came after that. So let's just be honest, we have, it's
just cyclical and everybody has some occasions where some songs are really bad.
Justin Bieber has a variety of good songs as well as just Taylor S wift.
Shauna: 16:47 That's
true. Okay, so you go back to like the temptations in any of those. Come on. You
weren't repeating some lyrics then?
Dan: 16:54 Well
it's not a matter of repeating lyrics, it's about repeating the same six words
for the whole song. Anyway, we've digressed for this little rant. In 2007 wet
your whistle, a drinking water activity book was released by Susan E Gertz and
this is what this is the synopsis of it. "Whether you breathe it in, smear
it on, drink it down or wash it off. Stuff in your environment can make you
sick or help you thrive. So strive to thrive TM" That's a trademark thing
"by learning more about the water you drink. What will you discover in
this book? Don't like water. Find Water. You'll enjoy it with a water taste
test. Paying for more... Paying more for a famous name. Find out what's really
inside that bottle. Do you know the water that can go from Yuck to yum? Learn
how to purify dirty water and so much more highly recommended by NSTA
recommends consumer's guide to afterschool science resources and Midwest Book
Review and winner of the National Health Information Gold Award for health
promotion disease and injury prevention and Teacher's choice award for the
family."
Shauna: 17:56 This
is designed to be something that teachers can hand out to their kids or you
could order and handout, you know, as part of a health promotion strategy or
something. But it's a, it's an activity book that helps kids learn about
appropriate, you know, drinking water. It's a drink of water activity books,
so, Huh, okay.
Shauna: 18:13 I
was fairly quiet during that because this was feeding into the weird thing I
have about like germs that I don't like generally. I just don't think about it,
but thinking about what's actually in my water is not a thing I want to do.
Dan: 18:28 All
right. That's fair for the most part. If if you want that, I will just tell you
this.
Dan: 18:35 Tap
Water is almost always safer than bottled water because tap water gets tested
so much at such a higher level than bottled water ever does. So if you want to
make, if you're worried about germs, then tap water's better than bottled
water.
Dan: 18:50 And
you can @bunnytrailspod at me if you want to disagree and argue about it. I'm
not going to argue back with you. I'm just going to send you sources. That's
all right. So let's, uh, let's start getting down to the, to the nitty gritty
here in the wrap up here. So 2010 there was a book called wet your whistle by
Devin roads. I'm not going to read the synopsis. I'll just read the reader
advisory that came in, in, in front of the synopsis and that should about cover
it.
Dan: 19:15 This
contains scenes of male on male intimacy and male, male, female menage, and
super hot male female sex with a Cyborg.
Dan: 19:27 Again,
again, the romance or erotica written stuff is not really my thing, but I kind
of want to check this out now as well as the next one. Which is from 2016 Tales
To Wet Your Whistles: Five Erotica Stories by D.P. Backhaus. I literally cannot
read the synopsis to you because it contains a multitude of curse words and
sexual innuendo actually , no innuendo, just full sexual commentary.
Dan: 19:58 Yeah.
Full endo. There you go. But, uh, we might read it as a not safe for work mini
episode for our patrons. So if you're interested, go to
patreon.com/bunnytrailspod if you're interested in such a thing.
Dan: 20:10 All
right, so it's obvious that wet your whistle has some sexual connotations that
I hadn't run across in the rest of my research. And so I checked in with our
friends at urbandictionary.com turns out they're actually not aware of it
either. So it looks like written erotica has cornered the market on this
particular way to use our idiom.
Dan: 20:32 Yeah,
it's awesome. I, you know what, happy to happy you got to safe space to be able
to tell your stories. That is amazing.
Dan: 20:40 Again,
much like whetting our appetite, wetting our whistle provided an opportunity to
see a few other opportunities where uh, basically these are extensions of
getting drunk but with a purpose. So to wet ones, clay or sometime moistens one
clay just means "to drink". So in 1708 in the British Apollo and they
said "we were moistening our clay" in this case they were, they were
drinking and it's oftentimes in a humorous way.
Dan: 21:05 Okay,
in 1731 Henry Fielding in The Letter Writers, Or A New Way To Keep A Wife At
Home, A Farce By Scriblerus Secundus... One of the characters said, "How
should he return to Dust who daily, wets his clay?
Dan: 21:21 Which
listen, I guess if that's going to work, if like your daily wetting, your clay,
you're never going to turn back to dust. Well then hey, secret to life right
there, I guess George Burns would've said that he lived to like a 99 or 100
smoked and drank every day.
Shauna: 21:35 Like,
I'm not sure what it is about this, but the combination of moist and clay is
weird me out, like all the rest of the things. But moist ones Clay just seems
Dan: 21:47 Moistened...
We're gonna have to stop this because the people who are really like can't
handle that word. I just heard it numerous times.
Dan: 21:57 Right.
All right, so to wet a commission means to celebrate a promotion usually used
in army or navy terms. So somewhere around 1687 the Duke of Buckingham wrote,
"he was drunk as a chaplain of the army upon wetting his commission"
also again in 1710 Charles Shadwell in the Fair Quaker of Deal, Or The Humours
Of The Navy, a Comedy wrote "Aye, the two ships would serve us nicely.
Easey. Then we should have commissions to wet."
Dan: 22:37 I
don't know. I mean that's baptism I think is what you're going for, but just
hold that thought.
Dan: 22:59 So
in 1881 William Westhall in Old Factory wrote, " ‘We'll wet little Mabel's
head with some of it.’ ‘What mean you?’.. ‘Why my wife was brought to bed last
night of a little lass as we are going to call Mabel, and I'd like us to drink
her health. That's what we call wetting a child's head in these parts.’ "
Dan: 23:20 All
right. One other one I want to point out is to wet the other eye. This means to
drink one glass after another. So just binge drinking really is what we'd call
that today. In 1745 and the life and adventures of... <laugther> This guy's
name... Bampfylde-Moore Carew
Dan: 23:47 It
was written, "The officer's filed him out a bumper of cherry brandy, which
when he had drank, they forced upon him another persuading him to wet the other
eye."
Shauna: 23:59 I
can't even, I'm not even sure what this is referring to, but I feel like it's,
you know, kind of, you can see like, you know how some people kind of squint or
they close one eye and they're kind of...
Dan: 24:14 I
don't, I don't, well it could. Here's the thing, it's best not to think too
hard about it.
Dan: 24:18 Okay,
so 1841 Charles Dickens wrote in Old Curiosity Shop, "moisten your clay.
Wet the other eye. Drink, man!"
Dan: 24:34 That
about wraps us up for today. I'd like to say a big thank you to those of you
who posted reviews for the show. It is the easiest way to support your favorite
podcast and best of all, it's free. You can do it for our show. You can do it
for other shows that you love, but go and whatever app you have, write a review
for the show, give it your five stars. Or if you think it's only worth two
stars then maybe actually don't give it a review. If you have a suggestion for
an idiom or another turn of phrase or just want to chat, you can catch us on
Twitter and Instagram and occasionally even Facebook all @bunnytrailspod or you
can get links to everything we do at www.bunnytrailspod.com
Shauna: 25:10 This
is our 45th episode and we are coming up on that big milestone so we need your
help. If there is a turn of phrase that means something really important to you
or your family, we want to hear about it, you can reach out to us on social
media or email us at bunnytrailspod@gmail.com
Shauna: 25:33 We'd
really love to hear about your favorite phrase and why you love it. The
deadline to send your stuff to us is Sunday, May 26th you can have it written
down or send us an audio file or send us a message and we'll reach back out to
you. Most of all, we want to know what turns of phrase are important to you and
why. So let us know. Thanks again for joining us. We'll talk to you again next
week. And until then, remember,
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