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Hubba Hubba?

Posted by Bruce Kahl on September 24, 2005

In Reply to: Hurry, Hurry Listen to a Wolf Whistle Here posted by Steve E on September 23, 2005

: : : : : : : Can anyone tell me where the "wolf-whistle" came from?

: : : : : : WOLF WHISTLE - "A whistle made by a male at the sight of a female, expressing sexual admiration. It usually consists of two notes, one rising, the other descending. The name implies that the male is 'hungry,' like a wolf." From the Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable revised by Adrian Room (HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1999, Sixteenth Edition). "'wolf whistle' (late 1930s).'wolf', a woman chaser, 1940s, especially common during World War II. Around World War I a 'wolf' had meant a male homosexual, then in the 1930s 'to wolf' meant to try to try to seduce a woman." From I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976). The wolf whistle is used by Wolfie (I don't know his "real" name) in Tex Avery cartoons like "Swing Shift Cinderella." There are several Tex Avery sites online including www.imagesjournal.com/ issue06/features/texavery3.htm

: : : : : :
: : : : : : Tex Avery site

: : : : : It's not easy--perhaps not possible--to notate the wolf-whistle, but anyone who knows how to whistle can probably demonstrate. There's only a little variation between one person's wolf-whistle and another persons. It's true that the first note ascends, by means of a sort of glissando (glide). The second note repeats the glissando upwards, possibly a little shortened, to the same pitch as the first note, then descends by means of a slightly more drawn-out glissando, to approximately the low point from which the first glissando sprang. I don't think there's any suggestion of wolf-hunger. The wolf in question is only a human wolf, that is, a hunter of females, and this is HIS whistle, not that of a wild canid. (More that of a sly hominid.) SS

: : : : I make music videos and I have that sound effect stashed on my site so if anyone wants to listen to or download an mp3 of a wolf whistle go to the link below.

: : : Hmmm...lets try again:
: : : I thought I put the link in the "Optional Link URL Box". Maybe I left out the http stuff.
: : : www.brucekahl.com/ wolf.mp3

: : Bruce, I was surprised to find that my sometimes balky computer actually played your whistle. I had to listen to it several times to be sure that my description and your example were on the same page. (They were.) Your wolf whistle is not QUITE the same as mine, but was just as good if not better. You've obviously had practice. Now, do you have recordings of a carful of boys leaning out the window calling "woo woo," or perhaps murmuring "hubba hubba"? SS

: SS: "hubba hubba"? Have not heard that in a very, very long time!

Yes, many years, for sure.
The closest sound effect to "hubba hubba" at the link below.

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