Are you a hummer?

[SorrellNightwind]

Are you a hummer or a whistler?

If so, why??

My husband wanders around the house, generally making noise... WHY???

Me too, ive had a boss say she was happy that I was walking on singing that morning. Its not because I sound like Elvis, although...it just meant that the project that was going tit's up was back on track and the meeting i had at the clients office the day before went well. So one burst of All Shook Up saved a 30 minute meeting

DH and I are both singers. ALL. THE. TIME.

Whether it's wheels on the bus or some nonsense from the radio we are always singing. We sing as we do things... eg DH will wander in the kitchen singing about getting a biscuit as he gets a biscuit.

I appreciate this is a nightmare. People point it out to me all the time in public (supermarkets, walking, whatever). DH is more self aware in public.

Neither of us can sing particularly well, it's just a bimbling habit. I do think we bring it out in each other more though.

Sorta sorry and also not sorry.

No one else wants to hear someone whistle. It’s incredibly irritating. Express your joy elsewhere.

Whistling really puts my teeth on edge.

I’m certain people do it deliberately to dominate their surroundings.

I’m a singer of little snippets of song that are in my mind - I am susceptible to songs in my mind unfortunately!

My husband hums, whistles, sings, jiggles his leg, and taps his fingers on every surface. It drives me up the wall.

I’ve never known anyone whistle from joy. It’s nearly always anger or a general dominate.

I’ve never known anyone whistle from joy. It’s nearly always anger or a general dominate.

No, no. DH is definitely a 'joyous' whistler. He is merry hearted and was a tradie who generally worked alone (on building sites, but only he would be doing his bit). And he was born in the 50s. I think he got used to cheerfully whistling snippets of song he had heard on the radio as he walked home from school. (4 miles, in the dark, from the age of 5 from what I can gather). Possibly to keep his spirits up!

He grew up on a farm - whistling as he milked cows, or brought the sheep in. Lots of his childhood was obviously spent outdoors and in the days before you could have an iPhone or earpods (or even a walkman with you).

He's amost 70 now and still gets up and whistles merrily from morning to night. It does drive me mad, because I loathe noise and like my own company and peace and quiet. He'll stop if you point it out to him, but is faintly surprised and a bit hurt that anyone could be offended or upset by his cheery whisling that he wasn't really aware he was doing.

They are often themed. If going to down to shut the chickens up he's usually 'Roaming in the Gloaming wi' a lassie by my side' for example. The other morning I could hear him whistling Gordon Lightfoot's 'In the Early Morning Rain' and occasionally (for no particular reason) he is 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' and the temptation to buy him the tickets is almost overwhelming.

I'm hugely noise sensitive and getting more so as I get older.

He mutters as well.

Normally things like "well that doesnt go there" or "where's that been shoved now" type passive aggressive type annoying stuff

I think this may say more about you and the company you keep than about whistling.

This is inherently untrue. My late father was a whistler. It was a theme at his funeral how much hearing my dad whistle brightened their day.

Please don't assume your own miserable nature is shared by everyone.

I absolutely can’t stand whistling. If my husband ever so much as purses his lips, I yell ‘NO!!’ before a single note escapes. Our kids have inherited my whistling loathing and tell him only ‘really old’ people whistle. He’s 55. 😂

I’m not miserable at all. I just hate whistling. As do many others judging by the replies on the thread.

One year we got stuck in a carriage / cable car half way up to Snowdon with a man who whistled the entire time. I literally wanted to open the door and push him out. Why does his right to make incessant noise trump everyone else’s right to peace and to enjoy the views? It is really selfish.

I read somewhere that you cannot hum and think at the same time. I don’t think that’s entirely true but I definitely think it helps to blot certain thought noise out. My DH hums incessantly, and sometimes he sort of thrusts the hum out, it is so
loud and obtrusive, it feels like a punch.

Whistling is different from humming, it’s more shrill. Both are rude in company.

I'm a hummer and a mutterer, my husband's a bloody awful tuneless singer. I don't mind, really. Almost anything's better than whistling.

It’s always men whistling, always 😡 IME

You and many others are not everybody.

💯 It really is.

I don’t whistle but I hum a lot. I think I do it quietly. I think it’s a form of stimming/regulating as I have ADHD/ASD.

I didn’t used to be but at home I whistle a lot now especially when I’m cooking etc. Often I don’t know I’m doing it. It can be a song I’ve just heard or a jingle on repeat.
I think it’s related to stress/ anxiety kind of self soothing/regulating as PP mentioned. Related to bereavement for me.

I hope you are a man because previous posters were insistent only men whistle.

I’ve noticed when I’m out walking these days I tend to talk to myself! Basically just reviewing the day, figuring out how things are going or what needs to be done. Luckily people do it all the time.. but I think they are probably on their phones!

I’ll try humming, it sounds nice. Nitric oxide!

I hum! I always have a song playing in my head 24/7 unless music is playing on a speaker/headphone. It just sort of happens that I hum along to it, sometimes I will sing along to it. I will sing/hum along to music that is playing as well, although more so when I am alone. In general I enjoy singing, and I think I can sing reasonably well, I sing in a choir and have done musical theatre before as well. I find it calming like a sort of stress relief valve, and sometimes it can sort of perk me up if I need more of an energy boost.

Interestingly I have ADHD, DS2 (age 7) has ADHD possibly AuDHD and I can tell how well his medication is working because before he was on it, or if it's worn off or if he's just had an extremely stressful day which has pushed him over the threshold where medication helps, he will explode in rage if I hum, even under my breath while we are walking by a busy road under a bridge - he can hear it through all of that and it drives him bonkers. I understand this, because there are sounds which do this to me as well, although TBF a person humming a tune is not one of them.

When his medication is working well and he's not overly stressed out, he doesn't even notice me humming and doesn't comment on it at all. So on the bad days I do try to avoid it when we are unavoidably stuck together (e.g. walking home), because I appreciate that it is a genuine struggle for him - but it can feel really stifling, like there's an itch and I can't scratch it. And sometimes I don't notice that it's happening. It's just that the music has a shape and my voice falls naturally into following it, like running your hand over a worn bannister.

My sister does this, I’m fine with it in her house but when she occasionally visits us, she bustles around my house humming, I find it weirdly propriatorial and annoys the fuck out of me.