[Ads-l] shade

[victor steinbok]

You hear "shade" a lot on RuPaul Drag Races.

Another place to look is Twitter - usually posed as "Is that shade?" (Or
other social media)

VS-l

On Wed, Oct 17, 2018, 10:35 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> We've discussed "shade" several times on the list. There's an OED3 draft
> addition to the "shade, n." entry from June 2015 covering the sense.
>
> ----
> U.S. slang (orig. in African-American usage). Contempt, disapproval, or
> disrespect, esp. when expressed obliquely. Chiefly in _to throw shade_: to
> express contempt or disapproval; often with _at_ or _on_.
> Originally associated with the drag culture of Harlem, New York City in the
> late 1980s; see quots. 1990, 1997.
> 1990   Paris is Burning (1991) (transcribed from film)    Shade is I don't
> tell you you're ugly, but I don't have to tell you because you know you're
> ugly and that's shade.
> 1993   N.Y. Times 4 July ix. 5/5   The Sunday Stylers are the last people
> I'd expect to throw shade on President Bill's hair pursuits.
> 1997   Village Voice 12 Aug. 26/1   No one who ever saw Willy Ninja dance
> in the '80s will forget him feigning to slap on makeup, gaze in a mirror,
> and =E2=80=98throw shade=E2=80=99 on his rivals.
> 2005   =E2=80=98K'Wan=E2=80=99 Hoodlum xxxi. 302   I ain't trying to throw
> =
> shade, shit has
> just been real hectic.
> 2012   Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 15 Oct. c5/5   They not talking. Ain't
> no shade though.
> 2015   Burlington (Vermont) Free Press (Electronic ed.) 29 Jan. 2   Jarvis
> suggested the actors should be =E2=80=98throwing shade=E2=80=99 at each
> oth=
> er via eye rolls
> and such to set up the increasing animosity.
> ----
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org