In February, The New York Times reported on scientists hoping to throw shade — over Earth.
To throw shade means “to subtly insult or blatantly show contempt for” something or someone, according to “The Queens’ English: The LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases” by Chloe O. Davis. (The scientists, we should note, were not insulting Earth: They were devising a sunshade prototype that would block a portion of solar radiation.)
Early uses of “shade” in The Times align with an earlier definition, as provided by the Oxford English Dictionary: “comparative darkness.” An article from 1860 shared one scientist’s argument that light was crucial to women’s health. He made this comparison: “a plant or shrub grown in the shade never displayed the same amount of color or strength as those which enjoy the light of the Sun.”
Around the 1600s, there was a “boom in poetic and figurative speech,” the lexicographer Kory Stamper said in an interview. From shade’s literal definition of darkness grew metaphorical meanings. Ms. Stamper offered a few, including the depth of color in drawings and a tinge or degree of something intangible. Here’s an example of the last meaning: On Dec. 22, 1860, The Times wrote that a book given as a present might express “the most delicate shade of sentiment.”
In the 1920s, predecessors to “throw shade” appeared, the lexicographer Grant Barrett said in an interview. To “put or throw in the shade” meant to “obscure” or “darken” someone’s reputation, or to render someone else insignificant by comparison, he said.
“When we talk about shade, we’re talking about hiding someone’s light or brilliance,” he added. Consider this example: A film critic wrote in 1930 that actors in a movie were “put in the shade” by the “knowledgeful” performance of Lee Tracy.
An evolution of that meaning, “throw shade,” truly took off after ball culture burgeoned in New York City in the early 1970s, according to various accounts. Competitors at balls, most of whom were part of the L.G.B.T.Q. community and Black or Latino, would express themselves through voguing, a style of dance involving model poses. They’d “throw shade” at one another with words and movement, Ms. Davis said.
Though shade could sting, Ms. Davis said, throwing it could be empowering, a way for marginalized people to practice, in a safe space, brushing off negativity that they might encounter in society. “It’s just about bringing your most powerful essence into the space,” she said. “If you are getting shade, then how do you dismiss that negativity and still stand into your greatness?”
In “Paris Is Burning,” the 1990 documentary about drag ball culture, Dorian Corey provided this definition: “Shade is, I don’t tell you you’re ugly, but I don’t have to tell you, because you know you’re ugly.” A clue in a 2017 Times Crossword was a bit softer: “Be subtly and snarkily insulting.” And as Anna Holmes, The Times’s new Work Friend columnist, wrote in The Times Magazine in 2015: “At its most refined, shade should have an element of plausible deniability.”
Madonna’s song “Vogue” catapulted ball culture, and its vernacular, into the mainstream in 1990. But with shade’s rise in usage also came risks of cultural appropriation. Ms. Holmes addressed this in her essay, which charted the word’s evolution from its roots in ball culture to its place in the modern lexicon: “It would be a shame if shade, like other African-American art forms that have been taken up by mainstream culture, became diluted,” she wrote.
Ms. Davis said “throw shade” was fair game when used with appreciation: an understanding of the history of the phrase, and a respect for those who coined it.
“The ballroom scene created a word that is captivating to all of us,” Ms. Davis added. “We all can be subtle or blunt with our dismissiveness. We all throw shade.”
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