[Ads-l] Antedating of "blow job"

[Barretts Mail]

The HDAS has 1942 for “blow job” from “No Laughing Matter” and says the word comes from prostitution, which makes sense as the origin for the word “job” (also "hand job", "foot job"). (FWIW, “blow-job” is hyphenated, but it’s at the end of a line, so it’s not clear whether the hyphen is in the original citation.)

The origin of “blow” is less clear as blowing (exhaling) and fellating (inward suction) are essentially opposites. The HDAS cites “blow” (fellate) back to c 1930 (p 198, definition 9a) but has no origin. 

A possibility is definition 5a of “blow” in the HDAS: “squander money/waste time”. Citations include “‘To blow oneself,’ to spend money freely”. This is also under definition 9 of the OED.

It is also possible that there is a connection to tobacco smoke enemas, where smoke was blown into the rectum. This might be at least contributory. 

What seems the most probable origin of “blow” (fellate) out of the items I checked is HDAS definition 3a “to puff upon (a pipe)”. This is also in the OED under definition 9b, which has the expression “blow a cloud”. It makes sense that the act of “exhaling a cloud of smoke” could develop into the idea of “inhaling from a pipe”.

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 21 Jul 2022, at 07:25, Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
> 
> Earliest I see on Westlaw: In a 1949 case from Los Angeles County, a policeman testified “That when he confronted the defendant and inquired ‘what was going on?’, the latter replied, ‘Nothing. I was just giving the kid a blow job.’” The court affirmed a conviction for the ‘act of copulating the mouth of one person with the sexual organ of another’. People v. Milo, 201 P.2d 556, 557 (Calif. Ct. App. Jan. 18, 1949). The ruling does not indicate when this took place, but it must have been earlier than 1949.
> 
> 
> John Baker
> 
> 
> 
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> On Behalf Of Pete Morris
> Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2022 10:16 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Antedating of "blow job"
> 
> External Email - Think Before You Click
> 
> 
> Last month Fred gave us a possible antedating of 'blow job'
> 
> OED 1961, Fred's cite possibly 1947.
> 
> 
> Here are some more antedatings. Caveats about google datings apply.
> 
> 
> ======================
> 
> 1945 use of a term "blow job" it doesn’t seem to be the modern meaning.
> In fact, I can't fathom what it means in context.
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Investigation_of_the_Veterans_Administra/5tOgAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA1312&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Investigation_of_the_Veterans_Administra/5tOgAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA1312&printsec=frontcover> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Investigation_of_the_Veterans_Administra/5tOgAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA1312&printsec=frontcover%3Chttps://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Investigation_of_the_Veterans_Administra/5tOgAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA1312&printsec=frontcover%3E>
> 
> 
> =====================
> 
> possible 1946 "then did a blow job on the biggest cock he could find"
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Paunch/TNwsAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22a+blow+job%22&dq=%22a+blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Paunch/TNwsAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22a+blow+job%22&dq=%22a+blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Paunch/TNwsAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22a+blow+job%22&dq=%22a+blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover%3Chttps://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Paunch/TNwsAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22a+blow+job%22&dq=%22a+blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover%3E>
> 
> 
> ===================
> 
> possible 1949
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_Menninger_Clinic/Bu9GAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_Menninger_Clinic/Bu9GAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_Menninger_Clinic/Bu9GAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover%3Chttps://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bulletin_of_the_Menninger_Clinic/Bu9GAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover%3E>
> 
> 
> ===================
> 
> Review of court-martial dated 6th July 1951, concerning events that took
> place in 1950.
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Court_martial_Reports_of_the_Judge_Advoc/4ytEAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA821&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Court_martial_Reports_of_the_Judge_Advoc/4ytEAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA821&printsec=frontcover> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Court_martial_Reports_of_the_Judge_Advoc/4ytEAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA821&printsec=frontcover%3Chttps://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Court_martial_Reports_of_the_Judge_Advoc/4ytEAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22blow+job%22&pg=PA821&printsec=frontcover%3E>
> 
> ===================
> 
> possible 1955
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sexual_Hygiene_and_Pathology/pCBkyIvIoAsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sexual_Hygiene_and_Pathology/pCBkyIvIoAsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sexual_Hygiene_and_Pathology/pCBkyIvIoAsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover%3Chttps://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sexual_Hygiene_and_Pathology/pCBkyIvIoAsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22blow+job%22&dq=%22blow+job%22&printsec=frontcover%3E>
> 
> ===================
> 
> Possible 1957 Google has mangled two-column text, and the link goes to
> a different part of the page. I think it says
> " ...accused took Gregory back to the bedroom , intending “ to give him
> a blow job "
> 
> https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22blow+job%22+%22Court-martial+Reports%3A+%22&biw=976&bih=505&sxsrf=ALiCzsa5P964Z3imgQSGJ91tGNd-__LJlA%3A1657942242137&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1957%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1957&tbm=bks<https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22blow+job%22+%22Court-martial+Reports%3A+%22&biw=976&bih=505&sxsrf=ALiCzsa5P964Z3imgQSGJ91tGNd-__LJlA%3A1657942242137&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1957%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1957&tbm=bks> <https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22blow+job%22+%22Court-martial+Reports%3A+%22&biw=976&bih=505&sxsrf=ALiCzsa5P964Z3imgQSGJ91tGNd-__LJlA%3A1657942242137&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1957%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1957&tbm=bks%3Chttps://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22blow+job%22+%22Court-martial+Reports%3A+%22&biw=976&bih=505&sxsrf=ALiCzsa5P964Z3imgQSGJ91tGNd-__LJlA%3A1657942242137&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F1957%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F1957&tbm=bks%3E>


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