This week, there was one word that seemed to dominate the airwaves.

The whistleblower at the center of his mouth.

By targeting the whistleblower in his case.

In remarks made to reporters in the Oval Office Monday, Trump let it be known that he's trying to find out the identity of the whistleblower.

Not to mention the person or persons who gave him the goods. Who was the person who of the whistleblower, not to mention the person or persons who gave

him the goods.

Who's the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that's close to a spy.

You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart, with spies and treasoned?

We used to hear a little differently than we do now.

Can he do that?

What is the role of the whistleblower and what protections do they have?

A few years back we did an etymology of the word with linguist Ben Zimmer.

He says it dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.

And the original whistleblowers, naturally enough, were people who actually

blew whistles. So that would be like a referee in football or boxing who might blow the

whistle in order to stop the proceedings. And then it just got extended in American slang. Blowing

the whistle just meant put a stop to things.

So, for example, in a story that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1909, there was a slangy use of this expression,

Ah, say, Sadie, blow the whistle on that, can't you? Says I. So in that sense, blow the whistle on that just means just stop talking, just shut up.

Funny that blowing the whistle once meant to shut up. But in the 1930s, it took on a darker

hue. It meant to snitch, to rat, to squeal. So we see it in various groups, you know,

the labor unions. It was one example.

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