# Why do they call them blow jobs when it is really sucking **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407 "2003-08-24T23:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Texas\_Hooligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Texas\_Hooligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Texas_Hooligan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/1 "2003-08-24T23:29:30Z")
A mixed group of friends were vacationing in New Orleans, having a few drinks, when a curious question arose. If a person is sucking, why do they call it a “blow job”? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/2 "2003-08-25T00:18:39Z")
The end product - blow your load ---
**Author:** ![Agback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Agback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agback)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/3 "2003-08-25T00:53:18Z")
G’day One person is sucking, the other is blowing. And act of fellatio in which the recipient of the favour does not blow his wad into somebody’s mouth is not a a blow job, merely a head job. Regards, Agback ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/4 "2003-08-25T01:05:34Z")
Or could it possibly because of the way it looks… ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/5 "2003-08-25T02:53:02Z")
I’d agree with **commasense** It reminds me of a cartoon I saw in Playboy many years ago. A kid at the beach is looking over a sand dune and saying “Hey Mom, when you are finished inflating Uncle Phil, could you inflate my raft?” ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/6 "2003-08-25T03:06:08Z")
I thought we did this one before. At [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154887&highlight=blow](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154887&highlight=blow) Part of my reply in that thread showed that the verb “blow” was used in the 18th century to mean “to smoke tobacco.” Although you were sucking on a pipe, you were “blowing tobacco.” The verb was still in use in the 20th century to mean “to smoke maijuana.” I think this is as good an answer as any. But no one truly knows. Blow job is a US term-- first cite in print(so far) was 1942. Referring to fallatio as “to blow someone” is cited from 1930. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/7 "2003-08-25T13:28:53Z")
(if it’s only sucking and nothing else, then someone’s doing something not 100% right). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/8 "2003-08-25T13:43:01Z")
**samclem** - I like your speculation. Furthermore, the smoking/blowing connection exists also in at least the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where the slang word for giving a blow job is “smoking.” ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/9 "2003-08-25T14:23:30Z")
According to a former colleague (who is of Chinese extraction). the Mandarin idiomatic expression for blowjob translates to something like “blow the trumpet” ---
**Author:** ![Sad\_Waters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Sad\_Waters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sad_Waters)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/10 "2003-08-25T16:04:24Z")
I prefer the term “Lick my Love Pump” [http://www.spinalpap.com/images/general/media/mgm/mgm\_007.jpg](http://www.spinalpap.com/images/general/media/mgm/mgm_007.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Sad\_Waters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Sad\_Waters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sad_Waters)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/11 "2003-08-25T16:10:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sad Waters \* > I prefer the term “Lick my Love Pump” [http://www.spinalpap.com/images/general/media/mgm/mgm\_007.jpg](http://www.spinalpap.com/images/general/media/mgm/mgm_007.jpg) What is the deal with the no edits? mmmph!! ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/12 "2003-08-25T18:00:53Z")
The Playboy cartoon I remember is a bellhop walking a couple down a hallway. The door they’re passing has rays of sound lines coming from it, and the caption, “Suck, Mary Beth, suck! Blow is just a figure of speech!” ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/13 "2003-08-25T18:58:03Z")
I don’t know how much this has to do with it but didn’t an Egyptian god have to blow the breath of life back into someone and thats where she blew from? I think **samclem** ’s answer is as right as its gonna get though. ---
**Author:** ![Insecta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3da27b/32.png) [@Insecta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Insecta)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/14 "2003-08-25T19:06:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > \*\ ***samclem** - I like your speculation. Furthermore, the smoking/blowing connection exists also in at least the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where the slang word for giving a blow job is “smoking.” \*\* Last I heard, the expression “smoking pole” was also in circulation amongst English speakers. And to quote Dr. Who… “What can suck, can blow.” (or something to that effect). ---
**Author:** ![Rashak\_Mani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@Rashak\_Mani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rashak_Mani)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/15 "2003-08-25T20:12:10Z")
So if you dont come its not a blow job ! ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-call-them-blow-jobs-when-it-is-really-sucking/197407/16 "2003-08-26T10:16:32Z")
I know that in Spanish you’d be talking about a “mamada,” from “mamar” meaning to suckle (you know, “mama”) or suck.