As an author who writes historical fiction, I try to write in the common vernacular of the time and place my story is set. There are many tools that help authors to do this, and my experience in writing many books has given me a general sense of what is usable and what is not. For anything of which I am uncertain, I can go to resources on the net that will give me a good idea of whether a phrase was in use. Even that often only gives a broad understanding and can sometimes be misleading.

Idioms are the largest problem in making sure the language makes sense, as it can often be difficult to pinpoint when something came into use. As an example, if I want to use a particular idiom and its first recorded use was fifty years before my story is set, I can be reasonably certain I can use it. If the first recorded instance is that year, then perhaps it would be best to avoid it, as there is no telling when its usage became popular. The other complicating factor is location. What people often said in England in the early eighteenth century, for example, would be been completely different from what they said in the United States.

I believe I have commented on this phenomenon before, and I hope you understand where I’m coming from. As I said, I try to be careful when using idioms and always look up anything of which I am uncertain. I do not claim to write exactly as Jane Austen did, but I hope my readers can see certain similarities and will not see anything blatantly out of time or place.

Then again, I do not always succeed, as a reviewer of a recent post informed me. The idiom in question was “throwing shade,” or “a subtle way of disrespecting or ridiculing someone.”  I do not know why, but I never considered that this particular idiom would not have been in use in England in the early nineteenth century. Sounds like an old and well-used phrase, does it not? Apparently not, as the reviewer was not hesitant to inform me, with words that suggested some impatience.

It appears the term “throwing shade” originates from the 1990s from a documentary about the 1980s drag scene in New York City. Oops! Apparently that is my bad, as I should have looked a little closer into the origins of the phrase.

But then, as I was looking around at various sites to learn more, I found something very interesting, for it seems that phrase is far older than the reviewer and many of the sites suggest. As many of you know, I write books based on Jane Austen’s characters in Pride and Prejudice, and the phrase was not only used by Jane Austen herself–with a slight alteration–but she might have actually coined it!

In the novel Mansfield Park appears the following line: “With such warm feelings and lively spirits it must be difficult to do justice to her affection for Mrs. Crawford, without throwing a shade on the Admiral.” If you read that again, you will note the way Jane Austen uses it is “throwing a shade.” The meaning is almost identical, a suggestion that throwing a shade is a way of demeaning someone. In the quote in the book, the speaker is Edmund Bertram, who voices his displeasure with a young woman for disparaging an uncle who took her in.

Thus, I feel vindicated–to a degree. If the author whose work I emulate uses the term, then I feel no compunction at all about using it myself! But clearly the term she used, a slightly different “throwing a shade” from my “throwing shade” is important. Something for me to keep in mind in the future, for I do like to get things as correct as I can!

Idioms are a fascinating concept, and one I will likely return to from time to time. It’s always interesting to know where common phrases come from, for it often teaches us something of history!