Talk:-job

RFD discussion: February–March 2022

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-job

Really a suffix? Notusbutthem (talk) 20:55, 14 February 2022 (UTC)

Speedy. ·~ dictátor·mundꟾ 21:13, 14 February 2022 (UTC)

No. Delete. Equinox ◑ 21:15, 14 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete —Svārtava ^[t•u•r] 09:06, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete. Better analyzed as a compound. Our main entry for one notable example, hand job, even has it as two separate words. 70.172.194.25 09:09, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

I'd argue that handjob should be the main entry instead of hand job, given that it's far more common. Binarystep (talk) 01:04, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

I agree the more widely-used form should be primary. The fact that it can even be separated out that way, though, makes me think it's a compound. You would never say "sleep aholic" or "mix ology", for instance. The argument for making it a suffix is that the semantics are unique and that it is sufficiently productive. I do think the call is closer than the votes previous to mine implied, but it doesn't meet the bar IMO. If you admit -job as a suffix, then I think you would also have to allow -ball (baseball, basketball, football, handball, volleyball, etc.) as a suffix meaning "ball sport relating to (root); ball of a ball sport relating to (root)". 70.172.194.25 02:26, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

On the other hand, the word job on its own can't be used to mean "a sex act". In this context, it only has meaning as a suffix. Compare that to the various -ball terms, which are effectively compounds that use "ball" as shorthand for "ball game involving X". Even the fact that handjob can be written as hand job isn't sufficient proof, imo, given that some suffixes (such as phobia) can be used as standalone words. Binarystep (talk) 06:17, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete. The definition given is pathetic. DonnanZ (talk) 09:40, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete, LOL. --Rishabhbhat (talk)

I can’t say I’m too fussed either way what happens to this entry but if it stays it should also have -job meaning ‘suffix used to indicate plastic surgery has been applied to the body part it’s affixed to’ (such as nosejob and boobjob). Overlordnat1 (talk) 10:38, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

That sense, just like the current one, only exists in alternative forms of job compounds (any sense). E.g. nosejob is just an alt form of nose job. --Rishabhbhat (talk) 11:02, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

It appears to be an American tendency to create boobjob out of boob job. It's not a suffix. DonnanZ (talk) 13:32, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Keep: This is a noun-forming suffix, usually in a humorous fashion. In general, an Xjob means that a penis is being stimulated by X. Theknightwho (talk) 17:37, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete: I agree with the comment above that terms ending in job are better analysed as compounds of [word] + job. — SGconlaw (talk) 11:52, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Keep. As ridiculous as it may seem, this is definitely a suffix. Binarystep (talk) 01:04, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete. It's a separate word that sometimes slides over and gives the preceding noun a suffix job. Vox Sciurorum (talk) 13:40, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Comment: I think there may be another general sense of job that we are missing. When one says "he did a lousy job on the exam", it cannot be replaced by "lousy task", nor does it mean "lousy paid work". Also, I'm not sure what sense 8 of job is supposed to mean and I think it should have a usage example. 70.172.194.25 19:16, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Also, some examples of noun/verb + job noun phrases other than sex acts and plastic surgery (emphasis mine):

Quotations

[1] "Earlier in the day I had borrowed a bunch of money from a finance company and had gotten a brake job done on my "new" 1966 Rambler Rogue sports car." [2] "So, these boys just painted the body unnecessarily, unnecessarily did a paint job on the car?" [3] "You'll clean the interiors and give a wash job and then wax our customers' cars when they want wax." [4] "I don't know whether women had beauty parlors by then or not — but there was bound to have been a mule beauty parlor somewhere, because that pair had as nice a hair job done as could be done on any kind of animal." [5] "Regardless of how good a spin job we put on a mistake after the fact, it still raises questions about our integrity among those around us." [6] "they know that Tony Rolfe and his partners must do a flip job on their building for financial reasons" [7] "He was forced into a radical reassessment during which his persona received a touch-up job, almost a replating." [8] "When a touchup job is necesary[sic], apply paint with a small brush." [9] "A tape job that is too tight will restrict movement and cut off blood supply." [10] "Of these five articles, at least the last, Article Fifth, was a straight copy job from an earlier testamentary instrument, was it not ?"

Maybe I'm being nitpicky but these seem different from the current definitions (even when payment is involved), and closer to the sex/surgery compounds where the meaning is "a kind of work performed". 70.172.194.25 19:45, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

I think these are adequately described as types of tasks. — SGconlaw (talk) 20:54, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Do people use the word task to refer to the work involved in solving a problem, or the problem itself? Normally job means the problem itself; in these special cases it means the work involved. Maybe not a real distinction except in my head, admittedly. A concrete example of the difference between task and the two senses of job:

"He did an awful task." = "He performed an awful (difficult, painful, maybe even immoral) activity." (e.g. [11])

"He did an awful job" (current sense) = same as the above.

"He did an awful job" (proposed additional sense) = "He performed awfully at an activity.".

70.172.194.25 23:07, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

There does seem to be a slight difference but I can’t put my finger on exactly what and sense 8 does seem odd too, I agree. Also, there may be another sense that I mentioned at Talk:job where it means ‘someone with the same job as you’, or perhaps only the less general meaning of ‘police’ when said by one cop to another. Overlordnat1 (talk) 01:26, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete, please. --Robbie SWE (talk) 19:57, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Delete. Just as much a suffix as -ball in baseball, basketball, broomball, dodgeball, fistball, floorball, football, hardball, hardball, hipball, kickball, korfball, netball, pickleball, punchball, pushball, racquetball, skittleball, stickball, stoolball, tchoukball, teqball, tetherball, wiffleball and woodball, or -wife in alewife, archwife, cyberwife, farmwife, fishwife, goodwife, gudewife, guidwife, henwife, hotwife, housewife, huswife, merwife, midwife, nonwife, oldwife, spaewife, stepwife, superwife, tradwife, washerwife and washerwife – that is, not.  --Lambiam 21:18, 17 February 2022 (UTC)

Those aren't the same, though. "X-ball" can generally be parsed as "a ball game involving X" (also note sense 6.1 of ball), and "X-wife" can generally be parsed as "a wife with X trait". There's no definition of job meaning "a sex act" on its own, and any attempt to use it that way would be met with confusion.

I'll be honest, I'm not really seeing much evidence that -job isn't a suffix in this context. It seems to me that most of the opposition is solely because the definition is "dumb", rather than because it's actually incorrect. I don't see what makes -job any different than, say, -ass, -bloody-, -fag, franken-, -fucking-, -spo, and -tard. Plenty of affixes started as standalone words or originated in blends, but that doesn't make them any less legitimate. Binarystep (talk) 07:55, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

• Delete. It's just a compound-forming noun, and barely that. DAVilla 08:50, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

  But job doesn't imply sexual on its own, so I'm not so sure anymore. Oh well. DAVilla 21:26, 13 March 2022 (UTC)

• Delete tosh. SemperBlotto (talk) 16:14, 21 February 2022 (UTC)
• Question: what sense of job is in nut job? It is, ironically, not the sexual one, and I don't see any others that fit. bd2412 T 07:16, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

I suppose it could mean ‘plastic surgery on ones testicles’ in theory! 😂. Overlordnat1 (talk) 09:39, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

I would compare it to case. nut case. Vininn126 (talk) 09:40, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Like many other words, it appears that job started off meaning "a piece of work", got extended to mean "a paid position of regular employment", and then was borrowed into other general contexts. For example, the OED records the senses "A task, a thing to be done; an operation, a procedure; a function to be fulfilled", "A state of affairs, a situation, a set of circumstances", and "A thing of a type specified or evident from the context". That doesn't mean it has become a suffix. — SGconlaw (talk) 09:48, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Just to be clear, my question was not directed towards supporting the entry, but to noting an additional apparently missing sense of "job". bd2412 T 21:49, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

Note: freakjob is also attested. bd2412 T 05:57, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

It seems like an extended sense, the other sense of "a piece of work" (describing a person as a real piece of work)? FWIW, the same sense exists in whack job and google books:"religious bigot wingjob", but whether job (or case) is attested in this sense enough on its own or in enough compounds to be a sense at job or case, I haven't tried to determine. (FWIW, googling nutjob + porn suggests this is sometimes used with sexual sense of job, and Vanity Fair wrote an article wordplayfully titled "nut job" about an orchiectomy.) - -sche (discuss) 16:35, 22 February 2022 (UTC)

• RFD-deleted. ·~ dictátor·mundꟾ 14:45, 13 March 2022 (UTC)