Все уместилось в два предложения из BOL

1. "In SQL Server 2000, all lock hints are propagated to all the base tables and views that are referenced in a view."
Думаю можно приравнять подзапрос ко view

2. "In addition, SQL Server performs the corresponding lock consistency checks."
По-моему это означает, что хинты могут игнорироватся оптимизатором.

Кроме того
"The table hints are ignored if the table is not accessed by the query plan. This may be a result of the optimizer's choice not to access the table at all, or because an indexed view is accessed instead."

И еще
"If a table (including system tables) contains computed columns and the computed columns are computed by expressions or functions accessing columns in other tables, the table hints are not used on those tables (the table hints are not propagated). For example, a NOLOCK table hint is specified on a table in the query. This table has computed columns that are computed by a combination of expressions and functions (accessing columns in another table). The tables referenced by the expressions and functions do not use the NOLOCK table hint when accessed."