14 maio He blew the whistle!

When you make music by blowing between your lips, you whistle. “He came in whistling a song”. You can also whistle loudly to call your dog. Now the object used by sports coaches, referees and even the police is a whistle too (picture). When you use it, you blow the whistle. Coaches and sports referees blow the whistle to point a fault or infraction, and the police, to warn a criminal. That is why ‘he was the one who blew the whistle’ means that he saw something wrong and informed everybody (not necessarily blowing the whistle). More recently, people who turn public wrongdoings by companies or the government are called whistleblowers. They are insiders who witness illegal activity by companies or governments and usually go to the press. The most famous whistleblower of our time is Edward Snowden, the CIA operative who saw and told everybody about activities by the CIA which were invading the privacy of individuals and the community. The verb whistle sounds similar to the verb  whisper, which means speaking silently,  not using one’s vocal cords but one’s breath. ‘Can I whisper you a secret? Do you promise not to tell anyone?’