The Library Is Open

The Library Is Open

An initiation into the wild world of drag vocab.

By Jeff Skinner, a.k.a. Jennifer Lynn Ali

Miss Southbend 2018 promo picture.

Photo by Jeff Skinner.

Hello hello hello, says RuPaul! This month the library is OPEN. We are going to go over drag talk (a.k.a. drag lingo) and what it means!

Let’s go over one thing: Reading is fun, but if you’re not ready to get read then don’t get cute because I’ll get drop dead gorgeous. Reading can be risky if you’re not ready for the library to be open. The queens are going to say “Beat it, Queen!” but hunty, let me share the tea with you! By the end of this column I am going to be having you be ready for any shade thrown your way!

Me in some feathers.

Photo by Tim Motley.

Sometimes you’ll hear a queen say, “All tea, no shade.” Tea is the truth; my favorite way to explain shade is from Paris Is Burning, when Dorian Corey says, “Shade is I don’t have to tell you you’re ugly, because you know you’re ugly.” Dorian definitely knows how to throw shade!

Another person that knows shade is Bianca Del Rio. I remember going to one of her shows and she had four people come on stage and and she put them in wigs and made them lip sync and dance. She was reading them and shading them the whole time. It was so fun and entertaining. She literally is the Queen of Shade!

Me on FIRE.

Photo by Laura Dark.

Comedy queens are my personal favorite kind of drag queen. They have shade, but they know how to make it funny! This week I asked one of my friends, Amanda Sue who is a former Miss National Comedy Queen, to send me a couple words and phrases to put in this column. She sent me fifty. I found five good ones so I’ll share those with you. Yas! Yaaaaaas! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas! And the phrase “Mother is feeling super femme mother!” I would like to say I can break that down for you, but I have no idea what that means. Ha, I guess Amanda is feeling SICKENING!

My friend Amanda Sue.

Just like I did with Amanda, I asked a couple more friends and here are a some words or phrases from my Columbus friends: Soy Queen likes to say “Brown cow stunning.” That’s from Monique Heart; she was on RuPaul’s Drag Race and it simply means stunning! My friend Hellin Bedd says “girl” in every sentence she forms and Mary Nolan always says “sis!”

One time I was at Axis Nightclub for Miss Gay Columbus. Before I went on stage, my friend Danyel Vasquez from Akron said, “Girl, that feather coat is everything.” Meaning that it was a great coat!

Danyel Vasquez from Akron, Ohio.

Seriously though, drag talk really isn’t that difficult. Just scream random names, words or phrases and you will fit right in! For now, the library is closing, but I hope you continue reading because I’m going to continue writing!

Me, the Jennifer Lynn Ali.

Photo by Laura Dark.