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.