Throw shade (slang)

Not to be confused with Throwing Shade.

The expressions "throw shade, "throwing shade", or simply "shade", are slang terms used as insults.[1] Merriam-Webster defines "shade" as "subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone—sometimes verbal, and sometimes not" .[2] OxfordDictionaries.com defines "throw shade" as a phrase used to "publicly criticize or express contempt for someone".[3]

History

The first known use of "shade" is in the documentary film Paris Is Burning (1990), which is about the mid-1980s drag scene in Manhattan.[2]

The expression was popularized by the American reality television series RuPaul's Drag Race.[2] In 2015, Anna Holmes of The New York Times Magazine wrote:

Shade can take many forms — a hard, deep look that could be either aggressive or searching, a compliment that could be interpreted as the opposite of one. E. Patrick Johnson, who teaches performance studies and African-American studies at Northwestern University, and who has written about the tradition of insults in the gay and black communities, explains: "If someone walks into a room with a hideous dress, but you don’t want to say it's hideous, you might say, 'Oooh … look at you!’'" At its most refined, shade should have an element of plausible deniability, so that the shade-thrower can pretend that he or she didn't actually mean to behave with incivility, making it all the more delicious.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The Underground Art of the Insult". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  2. 1 2 3 "What Does 'Throw Shade' Mean?". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
  3. ↑ Katy Steinmetz (2014-08-13). "Oxford Dictionary Additions: Hot Mess, Side Boob, Throw Shade". Time.com. Retrieved 2016-06-02.

External links

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