hand job as 'deception'

[Millie Webb]

I hope this is not already considered "settled", and I am beating a dead
horse?  (So to speak...)

To my understanding, it is a procedure or promise that is supposed to get
you all excited, but then ends up not being as good as you think it will be
(or ending differently than expected).  To some people, intercourse is the
only "real sex", and a "hand job" is only a sad approximation of "real sex",
and so "not real", such as the promises to "change", "sober up", "clean up"
that never come to fruition.  Oooh, I wish I could say I used that word on
purpose.  How about a "trojan horse": in the sense of an offering that is
not all it seems to be?
Anyway, I have heard it before, but not in mixed company (in societal
terms), and it is not one I would choose to use on my own.  -- Millie

----- Original Message -----
From: <RonButters at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 10:57 PM
Subject: hand job 'deception'


In a message dated 1/7/03 8:09:03 PM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> (as opposed to taboo avoidance)
>
> On a recent NYPD blue, the head of the squad, Lt. Tony Rodriguez,
> uses "hand job" in the sense of 'con job'. He's talking to his
> ex-wife, who is trying to get off drugs, explaining how he had to
> call in a lot of favors to get her into a detox center in Brooklyn.
> "So if this is another hand job...", he says. To which she assures
> him that no, she's really serious about quitting this time. Is this
> use of the compound otherwise attested? Or were they just trying to
> see if we were paying attention and/or trying to earn their "viewer
> discretion" label?
>
> larry
>
Or maybe we are just supposed to think that Rodriguez is a bit of a poet,
given to speaking metaphorically with metaphors that he creates himself.

At any rate, I've never heard hand job 'deception' myself. Come to think
about it, it isn't a very good metaphor, is it? That is to say, a "hand job"
is not very likely to be a deception.