whistling in the dark

[Wilson Gray]

Does anyone else remember Robert Ruark? He used the full form of the
phrase in his newspaper column: "as scared as a little nigger
whistling while walking past the graveyard in the dark," IIRC.

-Wilson

On 11/29/06, Alison Murie <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> Subject:      whistling in the dark
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Tom Edsel, on  NPR's "On Point"this morning used the phrase "whistling in
> the dark" in a context that strongly suggested that he meant something like
> "building castles in the air" rather than warding off fear of the dark by
> faking insouciance.  Has the meaning of this old expression morphed into a
> new sort of Panglossianism?
> AM
> <^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<
>       W is where Worse comes to Worst!
> <^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<^>:<
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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