There’s an old saying ‘Clean as a whistle’, but aren’t most whistles rather nasty?

Top 4 Answers

A few days ago

Joey Bagadonuts

Favorite Answer

“Clean as a whistle” is an old saying.

….It’s probably from the days of steam powered locomotives…..steam powered construction equipment ….steam powered fire apparatus …steam powered factory whistles ,etc. And when you have steam pouring through an opening in a whistle…its going to leave it pretty darn clean.

Hospitals use steam in autoclaves to sterilize instruments for the operating room.

So I’d bet that “clean as a whistle” was true in it’s day.

***

A few days ago

senlin

But the nasty ones don’t really whistle very well. In order to get a good sharp sound, your whistle needs to be clean!

A few days ago

the real diehl

I bet it refers to the sound that the whistle makes rather than the physical whistle itself.

Hard to imagine a more crisp sound than a whistle

A few days ago

Junior

LOL, are you serious?

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There’s an old saying ‘Clean as a whistle’, but aren’t most whistles rather nasty?

There’s an old saying ‘Clean as a whistle’, but aren’t most whistles rather nasty?

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