[Ads-l] Drag

[Ben Zimmer]

Also in Green's Dictionary of Slang ("to criticize in public"), citing
Connie Eble's Fall 2016 UNC-Chapel Hill slang list:
"DRAG -- publicly point out someone’s faults or wrongdoings: 'She
completely dragged Billy on that Facebook post.'"
https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/yboxm4i

(Just a reminder, GDoS is now free to the public, including all historical
citations.)

On Wed, Nov 14, 2018 at 3:57 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

> New to me.
>
> Not in the English OLD or Merriam-Webster, but Wiktionary (
> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drag <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drag>)
> and the Urban Dictionary (
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Drag <
> https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Drag>) have this meaning.
>
>
> > On 14 Nov 2018, at 12:31, Baker, John <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
> >
> > An article posted yesterday on Vox,
> https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/11/13/18092666/michelle-obama-becoming-memoir-marriage-barack,
> repeatedly uses the verb "drag" in the new-to-me sense of talking about
> somebody behind their back.  It's in the first sentence:  "By far the most
> endearing thing in Michelle Obama's new memoir Becoming is that she seizes
> absolutely every opportunity she has to brutally drag her husband."
> >
> > Apparently the term is equivalent to "talking smack" or "throwing
> shade."  Indeed, the article's title is "The best part of Michelle Obama's
> new memoir is how much smack she talks about her husband; Becoming proves
> that the Obamas are soulmates brought together by a mutual love of shade."
> It's not an entirely negative thing, as "Every time Michelle drags her
> husband, the affection that breathes through her words serves to make the
> Obama marriage feel even more authentic and even more admirable."
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
>

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