whistle past the graveyard

American  

[wis-uhl past thuh greyv-yahrd, hwis-] / ˈwɪs əl ˌpæst ðə ˈgreɪvˌyɑrd, ˈʰwɪs- /

idiom

1. to pretend to be calm, cheerful, and confident in an effort to reassure oneself or others; deny or ignore a threat or problem.

   I'm holding out hope that we can win this lawsuit, but I might be just whistling past the graveyard.

   The CEO’s press release reads like a hasty attempt to soothe nervous shareholders, combined with a hint of whistling past the graveyard.

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Example Sentences

To whistle past the graveyard of a humanistic Zionist dream requires holding onto the illusion that the problem is centered around Netanyahu and his even-farther-right government allies.

From Salon

“They are not making that up. And having some economist or political analyst downplay their fear is a good way to whistle past the graveyard for Democratic candidates.”

From Los Angeles Times

Of course, but the notion of the natural world crumbling while humans whistle past the graveyard is nothing new, given the recent deluge of very good dystopian fiction that has been published in recent years.

From Los Angeles Times

Carnival—Latin for “farewell to flesh”—has always been an occasion to whistle past the graveyard.

From Slate

That has dragged the press into a situation where either we whistle past the graveyard or we call these things out as we see them.

From The New Yorker