'Shade' is officially in the dictionary, honey
From reality TV to the dictionary. On Tuesday, "shade" was among the 1,000 words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
The definition, in the context of "throwing shade," is "to express contempt or disrespect for someone publicly especially by subtle or indirect insults or criticisms."
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The phrase "throwing shade" became popular in 2010 when an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race challenged the contestants to "read," or cleverly insult, each other. Consequently, most of the write-ups afterwards called it "throwing shade."
It's since entered the popular vernacular, even being used by news outlets.
In order to become an official dictionary word, "shade" had to meet Merriam-Webster's criteria for entry, which involves tracking word usage and citations.
Merriam-Webster claims that the first recorded use of the word is in the 1990 film Paris Is Burning, a documentary about Manhattan's drag scene in the mid-1980s, specifically in black and Latinx communities.
We added shade to the dictionary. https://t.co/dbxSsggzLo pic.twitter.com/4bpkoJVvAF
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) February 7, 2017
The film has since been added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, an honor only bestowed to 25 films annually that are considered “culturally, historically or aesthetically” important.
Coincidentally, Merriam-Webster has been called out for some pretty shady tweets lately.
Personally, I welcome this new era of shade with open arms.
