Lip service

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIP : Lip service

for the ITV2 show in the UK, see Lip Service

''for the clothing brand, see Lip Service

Lip service is the name of the situation in which someone complies with a certain obligation, or expectation, they have been subjected to, to the minimum possible extent. People paying lip service usually do so because they have no intention to comply any more than they are forced to.

For example, Scientologists use a device, which they describe as being able to read stress, but advertising regulations in English law require that they state that the device has no scientific merit whatsoever, since their claims have not been proven to the satisfaction of the Advertising Standards Authority. Consequently, they pay lip service to the requirement by indicating the lack of scientific merit in small print, but nevertheless advertise the device as useful, and heavily advertise offers of free stress-tests with it.

The term is also used as a slang (emerging out of homosexual culture) for cunnilingus, the act of using the mouth and tongue to stimulate the female genitals, especially the clitoris and labia. Sometimes also referred to as giving lip (see oral sex).

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