Like the phrase "clapping back," the popular term "throwing shade" is finding increasing adopting in media coverage, but when did it first really enter the media landscape?
Language is far from static – it is a fluid medium that is constantly evolving. Today, through the power of GDELT Summary, we can actually explore that evolution and trace the introduction of new terms into our collective societal lexicon.
The timeline below shows the percentage of airtime on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News mentioning "("throw shade" OR "throws shade" OR "throwing shade" OR "threw shade")" by month from July 2009 through present. The phrase seems to have first emerged on television news at the end of 2014 and really taken off in early 2016. In this case, CNN is the most frequent user, followed by MSNBC and Fox News.
