whistle Dixie

Idioms  

1. Engage in unrealistic, hopeful fantasizing, as in If you think you can drive there in two hours, you're whistling Dixie. This idiom alludes to the song “Dixie” and the vain hope that the Confederacy, known as Dixie, would win the Civil War.

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Example Sentences

Said Russell: "I'll vote to gag the Senate when shrimps start to whistle Dixie."

From Time Magazine Archive

We would be satisfied with a method that made every presumptive carcinogen sit up and whistle Dixie.

From Time Magazine Archive

Though Advance Australia Fair is now the official tune, some sour Australians would just as soon whistle Dixie.

From Time Magazine Archive

If I return in the dark I’ll whistle Dixie as soon as I see the lights in the bunk house, and I’ll keep it up so you won’t mistake me.

From The Orphan by Mulford, Clarence E.