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Just for quick reference--expression is not limited in distribution to
US, at least, not today. Plenty of ghits on "blowing smoke up your
arse".<br>
<br>
Here's one by someone claiming to be "Very British Dude":<br>
>> That's the problem when people spend every waking moment <em>blowing
smoke up your arse</em>, you think you have to micromanage everything<br>
<br>
But what I found more interesting is another hit:<br>
>>Me thinks that you are <em>blowing smoke up your arse</em>.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.topix.com/forum/us-house/steny-hoyer/T46632LT7OD36TU29/post149">http://www.topix.com/forum/us-house/steny-hoyer/T46632LT7OD36TU29/post149</a><br>
<br>
Not a British post, in this case (someone from Elk Grove Village, IL),
but interesting for a different reason--here, the blowing is done by a
person to himself, to confuse others. So that brings the question--is
it possible that this might have been the original version that was
later corrupted as "blowing smoke up someone else's ass"?<br>
<br>
In other words, the two competing expressions are<br>
<br>
1) X is blowing smoke up Y's ass to confuse/lie to Y<br>
2) X is blowing smoke up X's ass to confuse/lie to Y<br>
<br>
Judging from relative frequency (not exhaustive, but I found 4 examples
of (2) vs. thousands of (1)), it's unlikely to have been a reversal,
but who knows what it might have been 150 years ago.<br>
<br>
I thought I've heard the expression also as "blowing smoke up someone's
ear", but it took quite an effort to find a single example:<br>
<br>
>>It is only human to be curious to find out if
this guy is right or just blowing smoke up your ear.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-feature-articles/audio-related-articles/the-art-of-tuning-your-room.html">http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-feature-articles/audio-related-articles/the-art-of-tuning-your-room.html</a><br>
<br>
It only took a little longer to find the second:<br>
<br>
>>Well, whether or not this person is <em>blowing smoke up</em>
my <em>ears</em> I don't know, but it does have some interesting specs.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/technology-and-science/vetrix-vxe-scooter.asp">http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/technology-and-science/vetrix-vxe-scooter.asp</a><br>
<br>
<br>
That alone hardly suggests any doubt as to the primacy of "ass". (Butt
is also common.)<br>
<br>
And other variations are also not particularly illuminating:<br>
<br>
i thought he was <em>blowing smoke up</em> my pipe but he was serious.<br>
<br>
we're not <em>blowing smoke up</em> your skivvies<br>
<br>
Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is <em>blowing smoke up</em>
your business suit.<br>
<br>
Michelle and Ollie take turns <em>blowing smoke up</em> Dan's skirt
[Note the gender bender here ;-)]<br>
<br>
or was the recruiter <em>blowing smoke up</em> my buttocks?<br>
<br>
<br>
Another interesting variation:<br>
<br>
Like <em>blowing smoke up</em> a dead horse's A$$<br>
<br>
<br>
Ass is clearly the most common and in sense (1). Much of the rest is
euphemisms and variations (arse, butt, rear, rear end, hind, pajamas,
skivvies, buttocks (?!), backside, behind, nether regions, ventral
region, shorts, skirt, Ying Yang, hinney/heinie [sic], kazoo, etc.)
Only a handful are of different representation (pipe, tailpipe,
ear--all three that I have heard in live conversation as well), but
they may still be euphemisms (certainly, "tailpipe").<br>
<br>
But, on a whim, I also did a search on "blowing smoke out"+ass and this
one is quite different. The first one is a snopes.com hit for "blow
smoke up your ass" (in response to a question posed two weeks ago ;-))
but there are comments with "out" in them as well. Urban Dictionary and
WikiAnswers also have entries for "out". There are about three times as
many raw ghits for up vs. out, but the majority of "outs" are in sense
(2). There are some variations--out vs. out of, for example, but nearly
all involve "ass".<br>
<br>
Something to think about.<br>
<br>
VS-)<br>
<br>
Wilson Gray wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:200907290547.n6SKrkdq018524@mailgw.cc.uga.edu"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">If merely "blow smoke" with the relevant meaning is the older form,
it's really interesting to find that out. I didn't hear this
expression used till, perhaps, the middle 'Fifties, and only in the
form, "blow smoke up someone's ass." As a consequence, I've always
considered the older, if such it be, form to be a euphemistic clip. It
just goes to show one: one never knows, do one?
IME, "blow smoke up someone's ass" is the only form used, except "in
decent company."
-Wilson
</pre>
</blockquote>
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