twitterrati plus request

[Dan Goncharoff]

Anything using a boiler and steam for power has valves that "blow the
whistle" whenever the pressure is too high.

Freight trains had burglar-alarms that would blow the whistle and set the
brakes of the train wheever a lock was broken.

In the 1940s, RCA ran ads for a metal detector:

The RCA Metal Detector "blows the whistle" on any particle of metal that
may have crept into the package.

Elsewhere, the ad explained: "The RCA Metal Detector operates automatically
(with a rejection device or by stopping the conveyor belt) or manually (by
giving an alarm or signal)."

http://books.google.com/books?id=LUIEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA81&dq=blow+%22whistle+on%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_IBPUbnUGfPJ4APVo4DABw&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBDgK

DanG


On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 5:08 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: twitterrati plus request
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't see how a train whistle is relevant at all. Furthermore, engineers
> blow the whistle "on" a locomotive, not "on" people.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Mar 24, 2013 at 4:47 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: twitterrati plus request
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I have two citations from Life Magazine, 30 years apart--one from the
> > 30s and one from the 60s. They are not hard to find, it's just that no
> > one bothered to look. The first one is a union whistle-blower--i.e.,
> > someone who blows the whistle for everyone to stop work (presumably for
> > a strike, particularly for a sit-down strike rather than a walkout). The
> > caption in GB is cut off, so there is still some work to do (like
> > finding a hard copy or a full scan).
> >
> > The second is from the 60s and the whistle-blower is an associate of a
> > Senator ally of LBJ. The Senator ended up in the middle of a major
> > scandal and the associate blew the whistle on him when he did not
> > receive what he was promised. This one is most certainly an antedating,
> > but, I suspect, the earlier one points to the possible actual origin of
> > the term (rather than referees blowing the whistle to stop play). Cop's
> > whistle sounds a lot more plausible to me than sports origin (the latter
> > sounds like folk etymology to me), but union whistle-blowers should not
> > be ruled out without at least some investigation.
> >
> >      VS-)
> >
> > On 3/24/2013 11:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > "Whistle-blower" comes decades later than "blow the whistle on" (go
> > figure)
> > > which, as far as anyone has ever known, alludes to a policeman's
> whistle.
> > >
> > > This early ex., however, suggests otherwise. The (earlier) meaning here
> > is
> > > clearly to "oppose successfully; thwart decisively" rather than to
> > "expose":
> > >
> > > 1916 George Ade in _Cosmopolitan_ (June) 42: Claude...had to blow the
> > > Whistle on Friend Wife, who was getting ready to send Daughter to
> Europe
> > > and put Son in Yale.
> > >
> > > JL
> >
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