what's a RAP line?

old cartoon i had talks of grandpa running off with "some woman he met on the rap line". i took it to mean a physical line at a welfare/unemployment center, but this was in the days before the interwebs.

google shows a smattering of crisis hotlines, one of which expands it as the "Reach-A-Peer" line and one of which expands it as the "Runaway Assistance Program". there's also some "Report All Poaching" line at a fish & game office, fwiw.

the rest don't really explain the term -- maybe just the VERB rap, i.e. a "chat" line?

is this a common term to any of you? where would grandpa be if he's meeting people on a "rap line"? is the joke that he was MANNING a crisis hotline and ended up hooking up with a caller? or is it more like a generic sex-chat line, and the joke is that grandpa would even be calling one?

 

"Wontcha all sit back while I tell y'all a story";

"'bout folks hookin' up back in the days of glory";

"'back then before the 'webs were up and a'runnin'";

"a dude gotta . . .

Aaaaannnnd that's all I have . . . :-D


I have heard older folks call picket lines "Rap" lines, and have a dim memory of someone referring to the old "Party line" phone system in that fashion . . .

How old is the cartoon?

 

that's a lot closer to my original instict! however, cross-googling now with "picket" "protest" and "strike" doesn't cough up anything obvious.

cartoon was mid-80s maybe? not really sure.

 

You must be young :-D

Another slang meaning of RAP is a criminal charge as in a "rap sheet"
So it might mean he met her at the police station while waiting in line to be charged?

 

well, i know rap sheet, but using that for some sort of line you wait in during booking...hmmm...seems a stretch.

anyway, i have LOCATED the offending cartoon!! pls have a look.

and while you're at it, someone pls explain the *OTHER* one as well. i have a THEORY, but....

 

Was the cartoon in a hunting or fishing magazine? RAP line sometimes stands for Report A Poacher.

 

yeah, i mentioned that.

cartoons were from either Playboy or Penthouse. rolleyes

misspent youth.

 

I think it means "Soul train" and grandpa is taking a trip on it.

It's amazing how jokes loose their meaning out of a popular culture context.

 

soul train? the TV show?

is that a euphemism for sex or something?

 

Grandad's got a black girlfriend and because parents are white or just not 'hip' they don't understand what his phone call means I would imagine.

I think the word 'trip' is the euphemism for sex,'soul train' means a black girl.

If I'm wrong my brain needs it's yearly flush,if I'm right it's a terrible joke.