| 词源 |
catcalls. Though this word, first recorded in 1659, is inspired by the nocturnal cry, or “waul,” of the cat, catcalls are actually “human whistles expressing disapproval.” A catcall was appar- ently first “a squeaking instrument, a kind of whistle used especially in British music halls to express impatience or disap- probation.” It then came to mean a shrill shrieking whistle peo- ple made in imitation of the instrument and used for the same purposes. In America, however, such shrill whistles (though in this case not called catcalls) can be expressions of approval of a performance. |