taboo attraction?

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 09:52:02AM -0000, Jonathon Green wrote:
> 'Hand job' as 'any form of deceit, misinformation' (which seems to cover the
> usage in question), comes on stream in '70s, e.g.

There is an entry covering this rough ground in HDAS, sense 2,
from 1972 onwards, with citations from police usage. It's defined
there as "an act of insincere assuaging or assuring; flattery;
blandishment", which does seem to cover the NYPD Blue example,
though perhaps this definition is too limited; I'm sure the
term is used more broadly in a 'misinformation' sense.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED