Is whistling vanishing, like ‘you’re welcome’?
You know how to whistle, don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow.
That’s what Lauren Bacall told Humphrey Bogart in the 1944 Warner Bros. movie “To Have and Have Not.”
Apparently, not enough people have been following her instructions.
Copley resident David Post, 89, who grew up on West Hill in Akron, called with a column idea.
“When was the last time you heard anybody whistle in public?” he asked.
It was a trick question, though, because he then whistled a happy tune into the phone. But I got the point. I really haven’t heard much whistling lately.
“When I was growing up, everybody tried to whistle,” Post said. “It’s gone now. Why?”
In a highly scientific study, I spent the next couple of weeks listening to the people around me in public places, and David was correct. Nobody whistled … except me.
A musical passage has haunted me for years. As best as I can tell, it’s an amalgamation of Van Halen’s “Panama,” Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night” and the Candy Band’s rollicking tune before Genera Cinema movies.
I caught myself whistling it in the office.
David suggested that I listen to Elmo Tanner (1904-1990), who whistled his way through the 1947 hit “Heartaches” with the Ted Weems Orchestra.
“Elmo Tanner was the greatest whistler ever,” he said.
I listened. Whoa. David might be right.
But getting back to the point: Where did all the whistlers go? Does anyone have any theories?
“I think it would be a great article,” David said. “Older folks might get a big kick out of it, and younger folks would probably wonder what you’re talking about.”
You’re welcome!
Speaking of changing times … Whatever happened to “You’re welcome” after “Thank you”?
It’s dying out, I tell you.
If you say “Thank you” to a young person these days — for example, a waiter at a restaurant or a clerk at a store — the response you’re most likely to receive is “No problem” or “Not a problem” or “Of course.”
What brought about this change? Are we no longer welcome?
Kenton vs. Canton
After reading our “ultimate pronunciation guide to Akron,” Tallmadge resident Pete Miller offered this addendum:
“My hometown is Kenton, Ohio. Most people have never been there or don’t have any clue where it is.
“From 40 years living in Northeast Ohio, people ask where I’m from: “I say: Kenton.
“They say: Did you go to McKinley? “I say: No, Kenton, in Northwest Ohio.
“They say: Where’s that?
“I say: Between Findlay and Bellefontaine (Bell FOUNTAIN) or between Lima (LIME ah) and Marion.
“They say: Oh.
“Spent most of the ’70s in Columbus (CLUM bus). Which nearly always is appended with Ohio (a HI a).
“P.S.: In the middle 1980s I found out about the school district Kenston. And I live next door to Kent.”
Summers of youth
Can you feel summer slipping away? This must be the fastest one yet.
After I wrote a column about summer memories from childhood, Stow resident Ed Arida, 70, shared this tale.
“I remember buying a can of whipped cream from the milkman for 35 cents, then lying on my back on the front porch and consuming the entire can,” he wrote.
“Back in 1964, 35 cents was quite a sum for a kid. I would ask 50 cents for cutting a neighbor’s lawn, using a nonpowered, reel-type push mower.
“That can of whipped cream was a HUGE splurge and I enjoyed every bit of it!”
Akron native Leslie Martin, who lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, provided a kaleidoscope of memories from the 1960s and 1970s:
“Loved the column and now I’m inspired to write my own, including playing cigarette tag, Mom and Dad dropping us off for matinees at the Summit Theater (that’s it, right? By the mall?), and later by myself for ‘Woodstock’ and ‘Carnal Knowledge’ (Dad asked Mom, ‘Are you sure that’s appropriate?’ It wasn’t awful.)
“Yes to the lightning bugs. My brother and his friend biking up Trunko Road in Fairlawn Village to the Red Barn for 10-cent burgers and 5-cent fries for all the neighborhood kids, and listening at night to ‘Group Therapy’ on my transistor radio, which I had hidden under my pillow. That was way ahead of its time. Kids could call in about their troubles and get advice.
“No wonder old folks love to reminisce, right?”
Words of wisdom
Beacon Journal reader Pat Marks, 93, of Akron, who enjoys reading about local history and nostalgia, shared some words of wisdom with me.
“The old look to the past because they have no future while the young look to the future because they have no past,” she said.
That’s a deep observation, Pat. Someone should slip that into a fortune cookie.