This phrase was used in a book I’m reading, and I have no idea what it’s supposed to mean. Here’s the exchange:
“How would I find one of these women?”
“Stroke to the right, big guy,” Payne said.
I tried searching for this apparent slang phrase, but could only come up with either instruction on Chinese calligraphy or information about an actual stroke to the brain. Any ideas?
Context insufficient… is the first guy looking for nuns, seamstresses, spinsters, whores, female Alabamians?
I have no actual experience of this - but isn’t it a clunky Tinder reference?
Stroke/swipe… is there more context that makes this into a joke, for example?
j
yeah, it’s a Tinder reference (although the usual term is swipe, not stroke). Swiping right means you want to match with them, swiping left is pass.
I found the quote from a google search, which shows Tinder was mentioned a couple paragraphs above.
This may be a way to avoid a possible trademark dispute. Apparently the phrase “swipe right” is trademarked by Tinder.
Yeah, that makes sense in the context of the novel. Thanks.
Tinder didn’t exist until 2012, was the novel pre or post 2012?
It’s the latest John Sanford novel in the Virgil Flowers series, so this year. Also, they were talking about contacts on Tinder. I didn’t associate the two things, because I’m not in any sort of dating mode.
That would be a silly reason. You can refer to trademarks in fiction all you want.
It may also be meant to suggest a double entendre with “stroke”.
Chefguy. I have come to the party late as I am now reading the same book Bloody Genius(2019?) and was searching for the same answer. Thanks to you and others who helped with the answer.
Ha ! I recently read that, i remember having to look up what a carrel is !
Welcome, btw.
I agree (FWIW; IANAL) that trademark law is a silly concern here. Furthermore, the double entendre would make more sense if the text read “stroke right” rather than “stroke to the right.” But even then, the double entendre is about as sophisticated as those employed by Beevis and Butthead—it sounds a little dirty but it doesn’t go anywhere.
So I propose a third hypothesis: the author wasn’t especially familiar with Tinder and, in a clumsy lunge at relevance, garbled the lingo.
Maybe he meant to check it later and forgot. But IMHO, the phrasing is obtuse enough that the editor should have caught it.
Indeed, the most likely reason is that the author is slightly younger than the average SDMB poster. Most of SDMB don’t know what it means at all; the author has heard of it, but gets it slightly wrong
I’m pretty sure John Sandford (at 77) is older than the average doper. But maybe not!
Is the character British? The title, “Blood Genius” sounds like something a Brit might say, so maybe “stroke” is a common replacement for “swipe” in GB.
All characters are American.
We may say Bloody Genius here in GB, but we also say swipe - so not that !
No. The characters are all American.