The use of the word ‘professional’ always intrigues me.
So when is a whistle ‘professional’ of ‘professional grade’ or ‘professional looking’?
And you what I am going to say: I have seen very cheap whistles on the job and doing it well, earning a good living in the process. So what’s the distinguishing mark, or is it all hot air?
I don’t think it’s the whistle that earns the money, it’s the player!
Perhaps it’s a whistle used by a professional.
Well, I believe that “professional whistle” is something like…“good smelling message board” - message boards can not have smell, it´s a nonsense. And the same way, I think that “professional whistle” doesn´t make sense either.
“professionally made whistle” would be whistle made by a person with trade certificate with whistles, I think. Of quality, it doesn´t say much (same as professional players, who can be very bad, sometimes).
I´d rather use the term “quality whistle”, which would be very well in tune, with tone that some group of people will find nice (we can´t define “good” tone because of many personal tastes).
Well, obviously a professional whistle is one made by a professional like, say, a podiatrist or nurse… 
everything you paid money for?
Glad to see I am not the only one who thinks it’s a ridiculous notion. So why does the term get used so often?
Professionally speaking, professionally made equipment is used by professionals and non-professionals (i.e., professional wannabees) to produce professional-like results in the hopes of gaining recognition as a professional and be paid as a professional. Marketing professionals have for a long time associated the term ‘professional’ to position their product as professional grade equipment, which enables them to command professional-like prices. Showing up at a session with pro-sumer grade equipment and playing like a professional wannabee might be regarded as unprofessional. If this all seems too confusing, then I suggest seeking professional help, unprofessionally speaking, since therapy is not my profession.
There may be something to the scented messageboard. I sure do smell a troll.
Cmon Peter…dead horse. Even though I mostly agree with you, why keep bringing up the argument in differing and creative ways? I admit that going around the subject and picking at it is at least original, but honestly…dead horse. Let it go.
No idea - same with “women’s logic” - so often used, yet nothing in common with logic 
But if fun is cast aside, it´s interesting, why people use words in a bad way. We even have useless words - for example have to/must (not sure which, english is my second language) should be never used, because we´d have to be sure there´s only one option left. Yet, most of the time, there are many (however many are ridiculous).
I believe people don´t concentrate on exact meaning and hope that “betweenline talk” will make it well understandable.
Because human beings are ridiculous.
I guess in my mind a “professional” whistle would be any whistle that you could use for public performance that you wouldn’t cuss at and pitch in a trash can when you’re heading off stage. In other words, one that doesn’t get between you and your music in any way.
IMO there is some real garbage on the market that falls squarely in the “unprofessional” category. OTOH there are some very inexpensive whistles which, in the right hands, are entirely suitable for “professional” use
Doc
I don’t know. That horse seems to find its legs pretty regularly. Maybe Peter’s crusade needs to be a sticky, so those who choose to can just ignore it.
Hmmmm… . . . well l l, I certainly hope a podiatrist nurse whistle maker washes their hands before sending whistles out. 
That’s generally what I mean when I use the phrase “professional whistle”. I can get up on stage, play the thing, and not have to worry about it. I’ve used this kind of phrasing, before, for instance: “Don’t be fooled by its looks–that’s a professional instrument.”
Which brings up another point. When I say “professional looking” I mean a whistle which evokes a sense in the viewer that it’s made for musicians and not for kids. Most people i know would view a brightly-colored plastic-top whistle as a toy, and I freely admit that this is cultural bias. That’s just what they look like to folks around these parts, and generally, that’s how Generations are marketed in most music stores. Not all of us live in Ireland, where Generations are well known and respected.
Isn’t it a bit simplistic to reduce everything I say to the same old mas-produced-designer made argument?
‘professional’ comes up regularly in descriptions here but this time my curiosity was tickled by a post yesterday:
I’ve been playing whistle since “Chieftains Five” was released. At that time and to present date, my main instrument is guitar: acoustic steel string, nylon string (flamenco) and National tricone bottle neck blues.
Since I am a performing professional musician, I find it necessary to purchase and play professional level instruments. Since I often play with other musicians it is a rudimentry necessity that what ever instrument I play must play in tune and have a high level of “playabillity”.
The search for a whistle with professional level attributes was rather expensive and time consuming. Often the descriptor “tunable” whistle was an oxymoron. boggle
I have found makers who turns out a consistently professional level whistles. They are out there, In keeping with the not naming anyone tone in this thread I’ll not name names.
I think this is an interesting question.
Best wishes,
Jerry
I think that’s kindof apples to oranges, since a whistle rarely needs to fill a concert hall with sound unamplified. Who performs on a pakistani flute?
For me, it just means the whistle:
has accurate tuning, because I play mainly non-ITM stuff on my whistles in a church band setting, and my KB player cringes when I play whistles that are even just slightly out of tune with the KB for one note - including my favourite bluetop Gen C which is wonderful to play and fine sounding in an ITM sessions setting
works and plays properly, esp mouthpc, and everything fits properly without any looseness.
One of the definitions of professional (from Merriam-Webster online):
characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession
In this sense, a “professional whistle” is one which someone who played whistle as their profession would be able to use without it negatively impacting their performance or their reputation as a performer; it implies that the whistle meets or exceeds certain standards of intonation, response, sound quality, and usefulness.
Now, that said, notice that I didn’t mention price, and I didn’t mention the material that the whistle is constructed from.
I do agree that labeling a whistle (or flute or any other instrument) as “professional” is often misleading.
A better term might be a “performance-quality,” or, in the case of whistles, a “session-quality” instrument.
–James
If we stick to strict English, a musical instrument cannot be professional. It can be professional quality. Or professional style. C’mon you Brits, stop letting us Americans mess up your language.
So the question is, What is a professional quality or professional style whistle?
One could offer the corollary question, What is a professional quality musical instrument? And the answer is, any instrument that produces the sound and playability sought after by professional musicians in performing their work at the highest levels. Relating this to whistles the questions now become fairly simple to answer.