[NSFW} Why do we need two opposite concepts to describe one sex act?

I’ve never understood why blow job is used as a descriptive. I mean, the wife could suck a golfball through a hosepipe…lucky me, but blow? Nah!
It’s like screwing, that would seem to involve a certain amount of rotating the hips whilst having sex.
I would think hammering would be a more accurate term for humping as far as the mechanics are concerned anyway.

It never really thought about it, but you’re right. Blowing and sucking are complete and perfect opposites but are used as slang terms for the exact same act. I don’t know how blowing came to be a term for the act. Maybe from the idea of playing an instrument, like a horn or a trumpet, blowing a trumpet, some instrument that has to be played by putting one end of it in your mouth. Just speculating there. Maybe someone knows the etymology of “blow job.”

Edit: Here’s something from Vanity Fair on the subject

His cock is sucked until it blows.

In high school I called them teeth jobs.

@johnpowell either you’re really kinky or (shudders) not going there…

@ucme You lucky bastard. Nothing greater than a lover that can suck the hard chrome right off a trailer hitch.

@lillycoyote Great link to the Vanity Fair article. Thanks. And that trupet to strumpet theory just might be the answer.

@marinelife Now THAT I can grasp. GA!

@johnpowell Bobbit?

@King_Pariah Don’t read The World According to Garp then.

Yeah, I always wondered that myself. I can’t enlighten you. Maybe a language/culture thing. In French it’s really different. It’s called ’‘giving a pipe’’, (among others) as in sucking on a pipe. (not actually giving a pipe, if I need to get literal) But it makes sense, other than that a penis isn’t a smoking instrument. I don’t think I need to elaborate much more lol.
I’d be interested in knowing what other languages say for the act of fellatio, slang or otherwise.

I guess suckjob just doesn’t sound as flashy as blowjob? ’‘Blow’’ is really the only word that applies for your question as far as I know with the English language though. Otherwise it’s sucking cock, sucking him off, and a buncha other stuff that actually applies to what the action is.

@Symbeline _Fellatio itself is from the Latin verb meaning, “To suck”.

The Romans did it right, amirite? :D

@ETpro another book for the reading list then…

@King_Pariah Hehe! Kinda thought so. It’s truly a ton of laughs. John Irving has a modern day humor and grasp of humanity that rivals Thurber or Twain but with today’s savoir faire.

@ETpro Plus, how often do you get to use the word strumpet in everyday conversation? It’s worth it just for that.

I prefer the term cock-sucking over blow-job. I know blow-job is a slang, but it’s just too lightweight a term for me. It’s also vague because one doesn’t blow on a cock, one sucks it. It’s convenient to use slang terms like blow-job, because they’re easy to say and remember. Rather than saying “Honey, give me some fellatio”, I can just moan “Honey, give me a blow-job.” Personally, I’d prefer “Honey, suck my cock.”

@marinelife It blows not only his cock, but his mind too. lol

@MRSHINYSHOES Excelent points.

I guess a lot would have to do with how far back the word ”Cock sucker(ing)” was widely used. Maybe before Deep Throat(movie) oral techniques were more genteel and composed of massaging, licking, and blowing air or breath across it. I was just entering my teens more or less, and unlike kids today did not have access to girls that would get naked and know all the tricks with hardly the offer of a bag of chips.

@Hypocrisy_Central I was aroiund and sexually aware well before the movie Deep Throat got made. In every experience I recall, I got mine sucked, or did the same for someone eles. I was bi at the time. Settled down and married now.

But you are right that popular culture does change things. After [WARNING link very NSFW and not safe for weak stomachs] Anastasia Blue, lots of porn started concentrating on gagging on it and producing copious lubrication which the human body naturally does when gagged. Apparently, there are some couples that are actually into that scene, and even more, into actually playing bulimic games with it. So go figure. Movies have amazing powers to get people to do strange things.

@Hypocrisy_Central Hmmm….Deep Throat? I want to watch the movie.

@ETpro I don’t think the feminist will like that link at all.

@Hypocrisy_Central A whole lot of people won’t like that link. But I did post a very strong warning. If they can’t stand the heat, keep out of the kitchen. :-)

The point is that since Anastasia Blue took things to that new level, there has emerged a whole genre of porn about it, and also the kind that goes beyond simple gagging to actual vomiting. I think it dies show something about the power of movies to influence what people decide to try out.

I always heard blow job started with American soldiers in Paris in World War I . Most of them had never heard of oral sex, much less if it was blowing or sucking. But to them, it looked like the Paris ladies were blowing. So they called it a blow job.
I only heard that once. Who knows?
Anastasia Blue killed herself. Maybe she was confused about whether or not she should blow or suck and it finally got to her.

@saint That makes the most sense of any answer I’ve gotten yet. I’m inclined to think that’s probably the explanation. If you knew nothing of oral sex and just looked at the active partner in it, it would indeed look like they were blowing.