# Explanation please: "Throwing shade" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2016, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153 "2016-05-19T12:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/21 "2016-05-20T17:43:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Thanks. Is it an Americanism? I’ve never heard it before. I’m also Canadian and I recognize the phrase, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/22 "2016-05-21T01:27:00Z")
I’m in Australia and I recognise the phrase, but only because I’ve seen it on sites like Buzzfeed. I’ve never heard anyone actually speak it or use it outside a “celebrities being bitchy to each other in gossip stories” context. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/23 "2016-05-21T04:39:00Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Now, wait a minute. Bernie Sanders and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz are in the political campaign biz. Candidates continually seek the **spotlight,** or **limelight.** That’s politi-speak for grabbing the attention of the voters. > > Thus, if Debbie throws shade on Bernie’s campaign, she’s blocking the spotlight of public attention. That’s what it looks like to me. Which, with the spotlight being the big fusion-powered one in the sky, is exactly what the sentence originally meant, yes. A “more English” verb to use would be cast, “casting shadow”, but if it got translated word-for-word from Spanish hey, dude just used the verb that jumped to mind first (I don’t mean Bernie, I mean whomever some 30-40 years ago). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/24 "2016-05-21T19:22:25Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > It’s fairly recent slang, and used more often by young people than geriatric senators. My parents–who are Bernie’s age–would have no idea what it means. Civilization will cease to advance when intergenerational continuity breaks down. All wheels will then have to be reinvented, when one generation can no longer communicate with another. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/25 "2016-05-21T19:44:39Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Civilization will cease to advance when intergenerational continuity breaks down. All wheels will then have to be reinvented, when one generation can no longer communicate with another. I’ve only just heard/learned what ‘shipped’ means. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/26 "2016-05-23T15:44:58Z")
I think the meaning has become diluted through mainstreaming, but my understanding of throwing shade has always been that it’s wittier than simply being insulting or bitchy. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/27 "2016-05-23T19:53:03Z")
“Throwing shade” has been around for many years in the gay male community, especially of color. It basically means to have an attitude toward someone, and is not meant as a compliment toward the person throwing the shade. If Bernie is accusing Wasserman of throwing shade, it’s in the spirit of “that ugly fucking bitch is dissing me . . . .” Interesting to hear an old straight white guy use the phrase, \*with such accuracy. \*😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/28 "2016-05-23T21:23:35Z")
It’s my understanding (as a gay man) that “throwing shade” has an element of implicitness (as opposed to explicitness…that’s “reading”) in it. You throw shade subtly. Side-eye, a look, something that SOUNDS complimentary at first but obviously is not on closer examination. For outright vocal insult, you’d use the phrase “read”. If someone calls you ugly, they’re reading you. If someone reacts to your boast of beauty with side-eye or raised eyebrows or by silently offering you their eyeglasses, they’re throwing shade. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/29 "2016-05-23T21:36:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > For outright vocal insult, you’d use the phrase “read”. If someone calls you ugly, they’re reading you. ‘Oh, she got _read!_’ Not being a part of the community, I understood ‘read’ meant someone was ‘read the Riot Act’. So my impression was that ‘reading’ someone was more than just an insult, but more of a tirade – a good dressing down. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153/30 "2016-05-24T04:02:23Z")
Mmm, I think there’s still some craft to [reading someone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVVpMyIwDS4). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explanation-please-throwing-shade/755153.md?page=1)