Throw shade: The English We Speak

Hello and welcome to The English We Speak

with me, Feifei…

…and me, Roy.

We may sound a little different – that’s

because we are not able to record in our normal

studios during the coronavirus outbreak. In

this programme, we have an expression that

is used to describe publically criticising

someone. Roy, why are you hiding under

the desk?

Well, I’m a bit scared at the moment. Neil

said you were throwing shade at me, so I don’t

want to get hit. I guess it was you who

smashed the window throwing all that

shade around.

Roy! I’m not throwing anything physically.

I was throwing shade at you – that means

I was publically criticising you. I was telling

everyone how terrible your favourite T-shirt

is. You always wear it, but the film on it

is so uncool. Who likes

‘Gibbons by the Sea’?

I do – it’s a brilliant film. You should

stop throwing shade. I love this T-shirt;

it’s a classic.

It’s not a classic – it’s old. Also,

I did smash that window as I literally threw

a bag of your other terrible T-shirts out

of the window.

We’ll talk about it more after these examples…

Ece got really angry when she caught her friend

throwing shade at her.

Hey! Don’t throw shade at my job! It may

not pay well, but I enjoy it!

Joan never throws shade.

She’s so chilled out.

This is The English We Speak from BBC

Learning English and we’re talking about

the expression ‘throw shade’, which

describes the act

of publically criticising someone.

I can’t believe you threw my bag of T-shirts

out the window. I know you don’t like my

T-shirts, but you should stop throwing shade

at me.

OK, I will. I’m sorry, Roy. Actually, do

you want to know a secret? I love your T-shirts.

I wanted to buy one, but I couldn’t find

one.

Well, I have a spare in the bag. You can have

my other ‘Gibbons by the Sea’ T-shirt

and then we can have matching T-shirts in

the office. We’ll look so cool.

Yes we will! Bye, Roy.

Bye, Feifei.