Declan Murphy wrote:

> Michael Cash wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, 09 Aug 2004 20:25:33 +0900, Declan Murphy
>> <declan_murphy@hotmail.com> brought down from the Mount tablets
>> inscribed:
>>
>>> Louise Bremner wrote:
>>>
>>>> Did I really express interest in kanji cards that prepare for Levels 4
>>>> and 3 of the JLPT? 
>>>
>>>
>>> ???
>>>
>>> I haven't whetted the whistle yet tonight
>>
>>
>> So that's what you bog-trotters call it......
>>
>> (Unless you meant "wet", of course).
> 
> 
> I believe it (in this instance) is spelled "whet". Contemplating this 
> new bottle of Midleton's, I'd even suggest that "The Whetted Whistle" 
> would be a grand name for a pub.

Really, it's "wet"
 From the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition (1989)
wet, v.
7. a. to wet (one's) whistle, weasand, mouth, beak, beard, etc.: to take 
a drink. See also CLAY n. 4b.

   c1386 [see WHISTLE n. 2]. c1460 Towneley Myst. xiii. 103 Had She 
oones Wett Hyr Whystyll She couth Syng full clere Hyr pater noster. 
1530, 1653 [see WHISTLE n. 2]. 1611 COTGR., Crocquer la pie, to wet the 
whistle, or weason, throughly; to drinke hard. 1682 N. O. Boileau's 
Lutrin II. 154 Wetting their Whistles with the good Ale-pot. 1722 
CROXALL Fables $(D??(Bsop xcviii. 169 I'll give you a Dram to wet your 
Whistle. a1774 FERGUSSON Auld Reekie 4 Whare couthy chiels at e'ening 
meet Their bizzing craigs and mous to weet. 1785 BURNS Scotch Drink xiv, 
Monie daily weet their weason Wi' liquors nice. 1850 DICKENS Dav. Copp. 
vii, The wine shall be kept to wet your whistle. 1888 R. BUCHANAN Heir 
of Linne i, I ne'er can sing till my throat's wetted, Tammas. 1910 W. H. 
HUDSON Sheph. Life xi. 135 The starlings..singing and talking and 
swallowing elderberries between whiles to wet their whistles. 1939 T. S. 
ELIOT Old Possum's Bk. Pract. Cats 16 For to the Bell at Hampton he had 
gone to wet his beard. 1978 J. CARROLL Mortal Friends I. v. 53 Is there 
a public house here where a fellow could wet his beak?

Just for giggles, I looked up "whistle"
whistle, n.
2. colloq. A jocular name for the mouth or throat as used in speaking or 
singing; chiefly in phr. to wet (erron. whet) one's whistle, to take a 
drink.

Note the "erron."

- Kevin