Turkey: Wanna call the devil? Whistle when it's dark
China and Korea: Wandering ghosts want to come back to your house tonight! Simply whistle at night
Mexico: Summon the Lechuza by whistling three times at midnight
Russia: Tank your finances by whistling indoors
Fun Fact: Sailors hoped that by whistling in unfavourable weather conditions (no wind) they would attract strong winds. They would “whistle for wind.” Now, we have the idiom *whistle in the wind* meaning to engage in a hopeless task.
Burlington Arcade opened by the order of George Cavendish after his wife, Lady Cavendish, complained to him about the shopping conditions in London. It opened in 1819 ‘for the sale of jewellery and fancy articles of fashionable demand, for the gratification of the public.’
The arcade was birthed from grumble and needed to be grumble-proofed. London didn’t have an established police force at this time, so the Burlington Beadles were hired to act as bouncers. There were many rules - unaccompanied women weren’t allowed in, no humming, no cycling, no hurrying, no carrying packages - and - no whistling.
This was because pickpockets would whistle to signal approaching Beadles to one another. Sex workers, operating out of the arcade’s upper level, whistled to the pickpockets below to warn them about incoming Beadles.
The Burlington Beadles are still in the arcade today, dressed in Victorian costume. Mark Lord, the head Beadle, speaking to Country Life, said that his uniform makes him “feel 10ft tall, although my dad warned me when I took the job that I’d look like a chocolate button.”
These 10 foot tall chocolate buttons still enforce a whistling ban. There are two exceptions to the rule. Paul McCartney is allowed to whistle in the Arcade. Beadle to Beatle favour? In 2011, a “naughty schoolboy” was given a whistling permission certificate as a reward for improved behaviour in school.