Whistling (with your fingers in your mouth)

The link on Instapundit to Outdoor Revival about whistling loudly by putting fingers into your mouth evoked some interesting comments. Several wrote that their father did that. Their father would whistle loudly, piercingly through any din, and the boys would come running. The sound meant, "stop whatever it is you are doing and get right here immediately." Dogs respond the same way. And you can tell your Dad's whistle from any other whistle. Your dad's whistle is loudest of all, clearest of all, it's an arrow shot directly into your ears that stabs your brain hits the "return" target and compels you run straight home fast as you can.

Oh man, that took me back.

I had forgotten all about my dad doing that. It's a control system for young boys. Plus he was so well chuffed that it worked. And wisely, he used it sparingly. It worked on the girls too but less necessary for them. Imagine trying to round up five kids to the car for the drive home from an outing. A single loud piercing whistle that alerts everyone in the area and boom within seconds all five kids assembled right there at the car. It was very effective.

Come to think of it, this is what my dad looked like when he whistled. Minus the suspenders.

First, you need to wet your lips and curl them back over your teeth as if you were imitating an old person who’d forgotten to put in their dentures that morning. 

Next, you put your fingers in your mouth using your desired placement and hold your bottom lip curled in while pushing your tongue back in your mouth. 

This step is a little complicated and can take some practice to get right, but generally, you push on the bottom of the tip of your tongue so that it curls upwards while simultaneously being pushed back by your fingers. Then, keeping your lips curled, you close your mouth over your fingers creating an airtight seal — and blow.

Ha ha ha ha ha. Stop it, you're killing me.

That caused me to write my brothers to see if they did that with their kids.

Outdoor Revival shows this how-to video by Brett McKay demonstrating the two-finger to mouth method.

A commenter at Instapundit linked this how-to video by Matt Burnett demonstrating a no-finger method for whistling loudly. The guy is amusing.