LINGO LAB

The slang thesaurus for those old enough to remember dial-up

Read (REE-d)

Noun: a read 1. An intelligent, multi-layered and very truthful insult. ”Did you see Joy-Ann Reid’s response to Killer Mike’s tweet? That was a classy read.“

Verb: to read 2. To tell someone their business in a painful, yet articulate manner. ”Jackie read me for filth yesterday.” To read “for filth” is to give a reading of the most brutal kind.

History: the term “read” (like the term “shade”) originates from ’80s gay slang, and it first became “mainstream” through the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, which delved into ’80s underground black gay ball culture in New York. In one scene, legendary drag queen Dorian Corey explains the term: ”Shade comes from ‘reading’. Reading came first. Reading is the real art form of insult.” Examples of good reads in history: ”I’m prepared to take advice on leisure from Prince Philip. He’s a world expert. He’s been practising for most of his adult life.“— Neil Kinnock

”A modest man, who has much to be modest about.“— Winston Churchill on Clement Attlee

But the best examples of reading are on shows like Project Runway, America’s Next Top Model and anything featuring Gordon Ramsay and realityTV contestants. The undisputed champions of reading, however, are the contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Example, when one contestant said to her rival: “These other girls are gonna say you have terrible makeup skills, you have no fashion sense, and you’re dumb as a rock. But they’re wrong! You don’t have terrible makeup skills.“