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Here in the USA, just this past weekend, I spoke in a whistle to someone. They had their driver's side car door open, and they were in a parking space in a park

Here in the USA, just this past weekend, I spoke in a whistle to someone. They had their driver's side car door open, and they were in a parking space in a parking lot. Someone drove up and wanted to park in the open space next to them. The person with the open car door didn't see them. I whistled. They looked at me and I pointed with my chin to the waiting car. The person waved at me and closed her door. Maybe my whistle wasn't a regularly used and defined "word" per se, but it was a clear and complete conversation. Now that I think about it, I have different whistles depending on the situation. A high-pitched short whistle is usually "watch out". A short high-low-high whistle is usually reserved for friends to say "Hey, dude, look over here, I have something to say to you" usually followed by a non-verbal sign language, like pointing somewhere - "go over here" or "check that out". A low-high-low is for friends to more get their attention and let them know "I'm over here." The super loud whistle with your fingers in your mouth is "F-ing awesome" when you're in a crowd and the music group is playing a great song. It also has other uses. But mostly when there's a big crowd or the person you want to talk to is a long distance away. A bunch of high pitched whistles in a row usually means "danger/watch out." There are other whistles, too. Just giving a few to illustrate how whistles are used right here in the good ole USA for communication purposes. These are used infrequently, but I find most people understand what I'm whistling about and the different meanings of each whistle.

dylan604 5y ago
As someone that's been a soccer referee, you can tell a lot by the ref's whistle. Just a short hit is usual for an obvious start or restart. For a serious foul, it's a long hard hit. Just from the whistle, you can tell the ref has intentions of issuing a card. My favorites are when the player refuses to acknowledge the ref to "come get your card" whistle calls when the ref is also "I'm not chasing you down". There's entire conversations conveyed by hitting that little whistle.
- girvo 5y ago
  I used to referee rugby union, at a quite high level, and we had whole classes where we were taught the "language" of our whistle :)
- spockz 5y ago
  This happens exactly the same in volleyball. There are the almost perfunctory whistles for all the regular things like out of bounds. Then there are the stronger whistles for when someone makes a net fault and it interrupts the game flow. The quick double whistle to get the attention of the players. Then there is the boldness and the number of whistles which signal the seriousness of the infraction. Or the “come on, quit stalling” whistle. It is such an awesome compact language. I’m still sad I never learned to use my fingers to whistle.
nathias 5y ago
You didn't speak to someone with a whistle, you communicated to something with a whistle without using a whistle (or other human language).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- France_is_bacon 5y ago
  You say potato, I say potato. You say tomato, I say tomato. If you never heard it, this is where it came from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sbncTUZiGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sbncTUZiGk or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRrw2hDjnl4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRrw2hDjnl4 actually.
  - anthk 5y ago
    No.
- noobly 5y ago
  What if his whistles really speak to me?
wheels 5y ago
That's very, very different from whistled languages. In Silbo Gomero, one of the main examples here, there's a whistled equivalent to each sound in Spanish. The difference is approximately as far as waving-hands-to-indicate-something vs. full-on sign language (though sign-languages are genuinely separate languages, whereas this is just a different register of an existing language). As it were, I've actually spent around a year on the small island of La Gomera, where Silbo Gomero comes from. All kids have it in school as an attempt to preserve it.
- France_is_bacon 5y ago
  You're just too strict for me. Spank me.

dylan604 5y ago

As someone that's been a soccer referee, you can tell a lot by the ref's whistle. Just a short hit is usual for an obvious start or restart. For a serious foul, it's a long hard hit. Just from the whistle, you can tell the ref has intentions of issuing a card. My favorites are when the player refuses to acknowledge the ref to "come get your card" whistle calls when the ref is also "I'm not chasing you down". There's entire conversations conveyed by hitting that little whistle.

girvo 5y ago
I used to referee rugby union, at a quite high level, and we had whole classes where we were taught the "language" of our whistle :)
spockz 5y ago
This happens exactly the same in volleyball. There are the almost perfunctory whistles for all the regular things like out of bounds. Then there are the stronger whistles for when someone makes a net fault and it interrupts the game flow. The quick double whistle to get the attention of the players. Then there is the boldness and the number of whistles which signal the seriousness of the infraction. Or the “come on, quit stalling” whistle. It is such an awesome compact language. I’m still sad I never learned to use my fingers to whistle.

nathias 5y ago

You didn't speak to someone with a whistle, you communicated to something with a whistle without using a whistle (or other human language).

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
France_is_bacon 5y ago
You say potato, I say potato. You say tomato, I say tomato. If you never heard it, this is where it came from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sbncTUZiGk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sbncTUZiGk or this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRrw2hDjnl4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRrw2hDjnl4 actually.
- anthk 5y ago
  No.
noobly 5y ago
What if his whistles really speak to me?

wheels 5y ago

That's very, very different from whistled languages. In Silbo Gomero, one of the main examples here, there's a whistled equivalent to each sound in Spanish. The difference is approximately as far as waving-hands-to-indicate-something vs. full-on sign language (though sign-languages are genuinely separate languages, whereas this is just a different register of an existing language). As it were, I've actually spent around a year on the small island of La Gomera, where Silbo Gomero comes from. All kids have it in school as an attempt to preserve it.

France_is_bacon 5y ago
You're just too strict for me. Spank me.