Well, we’ve hit the big time, gained notoriety, are part of the American mainstream as it were. I’m not saying this is a good thing; just a fact. Every day I do crosswords, jumbles and cryptoquotes, et.c to sort of warm up the mental engine. In today’s Newsday Crossword, the answer to a clue (“Simple wind instrument”) was “Pennywhistle.” I’ve never seen that before anywhere in mainstream media. We’d better lay low for awhile… 
I think this whole Generation flap has blown our cover.
Philo
the end is near… 
Like Philo, I’m worried. Yesterday I did a crossword and one of the answers was “GNU”. (And no, it was nothing to do with Unix.) I think the crossword puzzlers are rattled by all the attention paid to Sudoku.
…psssst…Mack, looks like the right time for your IPO…!!!
I wouldn’t worry too much until the words “chiff” and “fipple” show up in a crossword.
I agree. I mean, pennywhistles are mentioned in a Bob Dylan song, for chrissakes.
They all play on the pennywhistle, you can hear them blow
if you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row.
I agree. If whistles become “the next big thing” we’ll be paying $100 each for the bad Generations. The whistle smiths will be working in cubicle hell, having been bought out by Wal-Mart, and the rest of us will be knocking off convenience stores to support our WhOA.
An unshaven individual wearing a hooded sweatshirt enters a store. He glances furtively about then pulls a large-caliber handgun from the sweatshirt. He screams at the cashier.
“Open the cash register. All the cash! All of it! Now! On the floor! Face down! Now! Do it! Gawd I need a fix. Bad! Those plastic kazoos. Hand me those! Now!”
The man runs out of the store with a paper bag full of small bills. He plays what sounds like “Silver Spear” on a kazoo while laughing maniacally.
Not a pretty way to live folks.
Also, anyone else seen that episode of The Simpson’s where Bart is given a few coins by an elderly woman for doing some housework and she advises him something to the effect of: “Now don’t spend it all on Moonpies and Pennywhistles!”
Well, that’s bad advice. Everybody knows Moonpies go best with RC Cola, not pennywhistles. Sheesh.
Tonight I had to play whistle for my great-aunt’s funeral. Someone came up to me afterward and complimented me on the whistle music!
I’m use to them saying recorder or flute. That’s the first time that anyone I did not know actually knew what instrument I was playing. It’s getting scary.
search term…google hits
pennywhistles…31,300
tinwhistle…128,000
“tin whistle”…588,000
flageolet…607,000
pennywhistle…708,000
tin whistle…1,390,000 [no quotes]
and for comparison…
bodhran…1,210,000
chieftains…2,000,000
enya…6,550,000
viagra…74,300,000
recorder…82,800,000
beer…124,000,000
guitar…150,000,000
I think the world is safe for now.
walrii wrote
I agree. If whistles become “the next big thing” we’ll be paying $100 each for the bad Generations.
Hmm. I don’t think that will become a problem. When a noob (as myself) who live in an apartment take up the whistle, it scares off the neighbours. I know that for a fact. Three of my neighbours hate the things. I’m having complaints! 
I see the dynamics of whistle buying this way:
-You people who can play attract hopeful would-be whistlers through concerts/CD’s etc.
-These hopeful would-be whistlers buy some cheap whistle to start on (perhaps a flawed generation that will make some extra squeeks )
-A large percentage of these live in flats or have family around them, so if a noob on average can scare off 2-3 neighbours/family members, we’ll soon have an even larger population of people who will never dream of taking up the whistle! And perhaps some who have will have to drop it in order not to get killed by neighbours/family members
So those of You who can play will just have to give enough concerts/make enough CD’s to create enough noobs to scare off enough people, to keep prices at a reasonable level. 
I’ve ordered a Hoover brass narrow Bore, hoping that it’ll solve the problem of complaining neighbours ( also because I’ve read some good opinions about this whistle on this site, and I think that I’m starting to develop WhOA).
As we speak, uncle Meat is honing his pennywhistle orchestra for the final asault on the castle Trend-Mongery (I Cran in your General direction!!!).
Gregory Pecory is learning Banish Misfortune as a ward against the doubters as he prepares to give the order to abandon the gates and run into the iner MTV sactuary clutching a Pakistani knock-off just in case (or roll in this instance).
“Time” is prepping the field agents to seek-out anything that vaguely resembles a tube with holes in, while Dubya himself has set the inner circle studdying ITM cliches to head-off the new media storm .." have you ever smoked pot through a pennywhistle??? .. " er, nah, but once used a kazoo for a pipe - and I didn’t inhale, and neither did she …"
A certain star-spangled entity is furiously gnawing whistles from chair-legs and other trendy 70’s furniture found in dumpsters - sensing his time is nigh …
The Paparazzi are alive with commissions for the first photo-story depicting any fuzzy, out-of-focus, telescopic-lensed, reverse-peristaltic whistle-drug story involving anyone remotely connected to the royal family, while, on the other side of Rome (heh) the pope finaly considered a visit to the emerald island and studiously looking-into altering the central doctrine to something disturbingly Celtic. “Damn those Vikings” he cursed - "They shoulda done the job better for the price we paid em!!! - ah well .. when in Tara etceterata .. "
Governments around the world are now hiring Flook and Lunasa to re-write their National anthems with cuts taps and rolls while major venues have cancelled Madona’s live lichen show in favour of the conjured shades performance of every Irish whistler dead this last decade chanelled through druidic mediums.
Can hardly wait.
Keep calm. We’ve been through this before.
Dr Who played a pennywhistle in one incarnation, didn’t he?
But he didn’t even use the piper’s grip, for goodness sake!
Arrrr but!
One of the first in his grip was a piper by the name of Angus! No?
…as Pete Townshend’s eyes light up at the prospect of YET FURTHER commercial jingle royalties on his old warhorse! T-t-t-talking about some golden parachute!!! 
And Billie ‘Piper’ played Rose Tyler in the last series. You might be onto something.
Scary stuff to begin a weekend with…
Keep calm.
Google search entries
Recorder 82 945 177.42
Point is, out of the 82 945 177.42 entries 82 640 261.38 are non-musical recorders. As in video, tape, tax, etc ones.
The second Doctor (portrayed by Patrick Troughton) played a soprano recorder…
I play both recorders and whistles in our little church music group. Most of the time compliments I get are for my “flute” playing either way…