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By *b430Man
over a year ago
Tayside |
Here is some of the answers you get if you google it, take your pick of the one you think is correct or not!
“blow job” was originally prostitute slang for fellatio (and, rarely, for cunnilingus), probably from at least the 1930s. Its first know written use is in a 1942 analysis of sexual humor, which obviously didn’t invent the term.
It was also World War II slang for a jet plane, which is almost surely unrelated.
The verb “blow” by itself also referred to fellatio in 1930s prostitute slang. It’s unclear whether it inspired “blow job” as a noun form, or whether “blow job” inspired “blow” as an abbreviation.
“Job” had long meant a criminal act in underworld slang. Starting in the late 1920s, it became popular to use “job” very broadly to describe something as a “piece of work”; by the late 1940s terms like “nose job,” “buzz job” and “snow job” had established the formula that “blow job” also uses.
“Blow job” entered general slang in the 1960s, perhaps in part from Andy Warhol’s 1964 short film “Blow Job.”
So, why “blow”? My simple guess is that it’s the recipient, not the provider, who does the blowing—that is to say, ejaculates. This would fit the standard usage of “blow” as exhaling, ejecting, firing, etc. However, this doesn’t explain why all male-involved sex acts aren’t “blow jobs.”
Metaphor may be another answer. Since at least the 1700s, slang has likened the penis to a musical horn or flute; someone performing oral sex arguably looks as though they’re blowing into such a wind instrument. And in fact, there’s a 1920s reference to “blow the pipe” and “play the flute” being used as slang for oral sex.
Some authors point out that jazz musicians used “blow” to mean “play” or “perform,” and “job” to mean an irregular gig. But this is of doubtful influence; the first know jazz use of “blow” dates to 1949.
Another 1930s meaning of “blow” was to smoke tobacco or marijuana (“blow a pipe” or “blow pot”), presumably because of the blowing out of smoke. Oral sex could also be compared to smoking; and in fact “smoke” was another, though rare, slang term for oral sex.
Some authors get excited about the term “blower” (or “blowen,” “blowing” or supposedly even “blow”), which was slang for a prostitute—but only from the 1600s to about 1850. Nothing links it with the much later term “blow job”; the only “blower” in 1940s slang was the telephone.
The origin of “blower” is unknown, but may be related to “blowser” (or “blowzer”), a 1700s term for an immoral woman that was current in 1930s British criminal slang as a term for a prostitute. This term also has no demonstrated connection with any meaning of the word “blow”; it actually seems related to Dutch and German terms for blushing, since the idea of a red-faced (presumably from drinking) woman is evident in the earliest uses.
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