[Ads-l] Possible Antedating of "Blow Job"

[Geoffrey Nathan]

From my knowledge of aviation history it has always seemed clear to me that pilots using the expression while dealing with the first jets was quite deliberate, and typical military humor. Can’t remember exact dates, but it was certainly no later than 1945. Now that I think about it, I think the RAF and USAAF pilots were referring to Me-262’s, which appeared in 1944.

Geoff

Sent from my iPad

> On Jun 6, 2022, at 6:08 PM, Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> [EXTERNAL]
> 
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Possible Antedating of "Blow Job"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I wonder if the following 1945 quotes, given their military context (referr=
> ing to the new P-80 jet planes), should be taken as evidence of earlier usa=
> ge.
> 
> 1945 NY Herald Tribune 1 Aug. 5/1
> 
> It sucks air in at the front and blows it out at the end faster than it cam=
> e in.  It's a blow job.  It simply blows itself forward.
> 
> 1945 NY Times 1 Aug. 4/6
> 
> Col. Homer S. Boushey, commanding the training group, declared that basical=
> ly the "blow job" as the jet plane is called, was simpler to fly than the c=
> onventional airplane.
> 
> (The articles don't say if Col. Boushey sniggered as he made these statemen=
> ts . . . . )
> 
>> 
>> blow job (OED 1961)
>> 
>> 1947 George Grieg _Frantic_ 8 (Archives of Sexuality and Gender)  I wonde=
> r if
>> any of those girls would give me a blow job ?
>> 
>> NOTE:  I am not sure whether this is the earliest known citation for this=
> term,
>> because Jonathan Lighter's datings are less rigorous than those in the OE=
> D, and
>> I don't know whether the OED would agree with his 1942 and 1945 datings o=
> f
>> citations in HDAS.
>> 
>> Fred Shapiro
>> 
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