# sucking vs blowing **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381 "2000-12-06T21:42:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kate)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/41 "2000-12-08T15:01:36Z")
Nothing sucks like an Electrolux. 😃 /Kate ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/42 "2000-12-08T15:41:04Z")
Morris, I cannot answer you question as asked: I can only speak for myself, in other words, I do not know why they do not ask you. If you are interested to know, I can explain to you, why I asked these questions. Starbury, some of my responses are condescending, not all. Morris’s question showed that he has only vague knowledge of the human anatomy (not of biliary duct, of something he is going to vigorously use some day). By being condescending I implied that some minimal level is expected and required. How would you reacted if I asked you to help me to install a computer application and then complained back to you that I followed you instructions and failed? Perhaps, I failed because I did not plug the PC in, as you did not tell me. You’d explained to me that although you understand my inexperience, some minimum level is expected and required. You might or might not be condescending, depending on your personality. I just could not resist in that case. My example was an exagerration, of course, but you got the drift. I’ll try to be more understanding in the future. I cannot promise that I will always be dry and damn straight, but do not feel intimidated yourself: after all, you do not know me. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/43 "2000-12-08T16:20:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peace \* > \*\*do not feel intimidated yourself: after all, you do not know me. \*\* True. You could be a computer, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/44 "2000-12-08T16:27:49Z")
\*\*Starbury[b/], I don’t get it. (Innocence) ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/45 "2000-12-08T16:57:45Z")
Starbury, I did not mean to be offensive: I can only judge others as I judge myself. Namely, if a stranger in the street calls me: “Fool”, I do not feel offended and do not respond: he might be fool himself. But I do feel offended if a friend of mine calls me “fool”. I know him and value his opinion. So, what I humbly suggested, is that before you feel intimidated, consider that it was not a personal offense, that perhaps I was just having fun. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/46 "2000-12-08T17:37:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peace \* > **So, what I humbly suggested** You’ll forgive me if I don’t see the humility in your “suggestion” that I am intimidated by you. Anyway, to get back to the subject…during a quick search through the Merriam-Webster dictionary I found: > [@](#): > > blew /'blü/; blown /'blOn/; blow·ing > Etymology: Middle English, from Old English blAwan; akin to Old High German blAen to blow, _Greek phallos penis_ So that might explain the connection between “blow” and oral sex, but I couldn’t find anything connecting “suck”. ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/47 "2000-12-08T20:03:11Z")
Starbury, now I am completely lost: in your quote, the three line actually follow one another? I am curious, what is Greek phallus doing next to blew/blown/blaen? ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/48 "2000-12-08T20:24:39Z")
- sorry, can’t resist. **peace** writes: > [@](#): > > This post was typed in M$word, with all its editors and chech speller, copied and pasted. Takes a few more secs and a few more clicks, but looks nicer. Well, apparently your chech speller is in working order, as “chech” is correctly spelled. \ ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/49 "2000-12-08T20:38:21Z")
I clicked on “Ignore” instead of “Change”. The mods here are so liberal, yet would not let us use “Edit” button. ---
**Author:** ![TP605](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@TP605](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TP605)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/50 "2000-12-08T20:42:52Z")
The OP (and I suspect a significant portion of all GQ posts) could be tracked down in a second if somebody has access to the OED II. Which Cecil does as he consults it from time to time. Anybody have an OED II? ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/51 "2000-12-08T20:53:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by peace \* > I am curious, what is Greek phallus doing next to blew/blown/blaen? \*\* That was what I pulled verbatim from the entry for “blow” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The italics on phallos were mine. \*\* Middle English, from Old English blAwan; akin to Old High German blAen to blow, _Greek phallos penis_ \*\* I assume that this means that “blow” is a derivative of blawan, which itself is the linguistic cousin of the Greek word for penis. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/52 "2000-12-09T01:50:47Z")
**Starbury** , are you sure you finished your home shooling? What’s this blubber about Greek? jb, snicker snicker ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/53 "2000-12-09T04:12:34Z")
I just check MWD. Exactly the same, word by word. What is the name of this word game where you substitute one letter at the time, to arrive to the new word? Still, a long way from phallus to blow. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/54 "2000-12-09T14:25:37Z")
Are you being facetious or do you really not know what etymology is? It’s ok. You’re doing alright with this english thing. You got it a bit screwed though. Listen close. > [@](#): > > Main Entry: et·y·mol·o·gy > Pronunciation: -jE > Function: noun > Inflected Form(s): plural -gies > **Etymology: Middle English ethimologie, from Latin etymologia, from Greek, from etymon + -logia -logy** > Date: 14th century > 1 : the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language You can even see, _in this definition_, how a modern word can be derived from older languages. Its not a game of substituting letters. ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381/55 "2000-12-09T15:46:38Z")
No, I’m 101% serious. I know about “ethymolody”; if I didn’t, I"d looked it up myself. I meant a word game, which name I forgot (should I start a new thread?). In the game, you are given two words, e.g., HELL and PELT. You are allowed to change one letter at the time, as in HELL\>fELL\>FELt\>pELT. I was trying to be cute, of course, because BLOW origin from PHALLUS is less than obvious to me (in other words, its etymology is mysterious :)). You are a native English soeaker, probably, it is more obvious to you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sucking-vs-blowing/44381.md?page=2)