Ghosting is bad. Throwing shade is good. And Merriam-Webster just gave a nod to both words. On Tuesday, Merriam-Webster added more than 1,000 words to its website.
Although “shade” was already listed on its site, the dictionary added the slang definition of the word to the list, and in its explanation of the word, it paid homage to Paris Is Burning.
“Our first recorded use of shade to refer to an insult is from the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, which chronicles the drag scene in mid-1980s Manhattan as seen through the eyes of young Latino and black drag queens,” the site explained.
Wasp-waisted women throwing shade. Well, I guess.
“This is social media speaking,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, said of “shade.” “What I like about it is that it assumes a very highly informed reader. It assumes you will get the whole joke.”
Up next: ghosting. I’ve had experience with this in the world of dating. I’m still not sure why people do it, but it’s rude.
Ellen, I feel you.
Other words added by Merriam-Webster include microaggression, arancini, fast fashion, FLOTUS, conlang, binge-watch, safe space and about 900 others.
Take a look at some of the entries here.