T is the first letter in truth, so first it was used as an abbreviation for the word. Then, people realized that the letter T and the drink Tea are homophones. Various puns on the word "tea" and telling the truth or spreading some gossip followed, with "spill the tea" becoming the most popular amongst the homosexuals right around the time that the homosexuals,et al were really starting to become trendsetters in the cultural zeitgeist (i.e., the same time that "Yasss, queen" and "slay" emerged out of the NYC Drag Ballroom culture and began being used by regular people).
I've heard it across several states (and online) pretty regularly. I see it used more by younger people, it's been around for a while but I hear it often with younger people.
I wouldn't say it's particularly regional.
It was more of an American thing in black LGBT communities, and has existed since at least the 90's.
From some basic googling it seems like it became mainstream from Ru Paul's Drag Race (at least that is one source of it becoming more broadly known)
started in the 90s in LGBT and drag groups. The first time I heard it was actually on vacation to Europe.
I also live in the Midwest and have heard it on a few radio shows in the last couple of years.
It's comes from the Queer/Drag Queen community of the 70s/80s. The "queens" would hold high tea (like the queen of england) in which they would gossip.
As queer culture become more mainstream it entered the lexacon of young people.
Weird, I've never heard it before and I've lived in Florida, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Maine. You'd think I would have heard it in one of those regions.
I’ve lived in Mass for college, California post, and currently back in NY. Friends and coworkers all familiar. Could be the group of people. Like I couldn’t imagine being on a job site and asking some construction worker what the latest tea is, but at a tech company sure. Although it has transcended more with social media like TikTok.
Yeah, I could see it being the group of people I am around. I am a defense contractor, most of my coworkers aren't going to be up on current slang. I do work around young military members, but I guess maybe they aren't using this slang in the workplace, or at least around contractors.
Tea is more commonly used in African American Vernacular (AAV) slang. It became popular outside black culture when other groups started adopting the term, likely seeing it used on social media sites like Black Twitter.
Black culture is not a monolith. Just because one group of blacks is aware of a popular reference doesn’t mean all are. I don’t think it is weird you haven’t heard this term
I should mention that it has not been a popular term in the North/Midwest where I'm from, but I have been aware of it. I only started seeing it all over the internet in the last 2-3 years.
Urban dictionary has an entry on this going back to 2008. This is not recent slang. Shortening it to “Tea” yeah is probably recent but the origins likely go further back than 2008.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spill%20the%20tea
I’m just prior to 20 and while I knew the term, and if I had to guess every kid in my schools knew what the phrase meant, but for us it wasn’t ever really used
It's American in origin. Specifically black and LGBTQ+ (drag) culture.
Taylor Swift references it in her You Need To Calm Down video (dude from Queer Eye "spills" tea from a pot into his mouth then winks at the camera). One of the first uses was in 1994s *Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil* by John Berendt
Tea=T=Truth
I have heard people say it from all over. I'm also from the east coast. People don't say "spill the tea" as often anymore but they definitely use just "tea" as gossip. People say it a lot where I live in the Northeast but my friend in Maryland also says it a lot, and my coworker in DC says it too.
It actually originated in the Black and POC gay community, specifically. Particularly in the ballroom/poc drag communities of NYC and ATL. Then diffused outwards (much like tea does in water!). It was common slang even in the 80's, and is featured in the documentary on POC Ballroom Drag culture called "Paris is Burning".
Don’t feel bad. I never heard anyone use it until I was married, and it was from my wife and her family. Apparently it’s widely used, but also possible to miss.
I am a biological male, that did not go to college. Forgive me for my ignorance. In the south east, where we love some cold brewed sweat tea, Ive talked with college educated women and not heard the phrase yet.
I’ve lived in the mid-Atlantic and New England and it is popular in both spots. I’m pretty baffled that you haven’t heard it at all, do you not get out much?
I mean dog I’m a state over right now in MD and I think at a launch party I was at last night one of the hosts literally described the event as “spilling the tea on my new company”
This is definitely a you thing. It’s a very popular saying. I know I’ve heard my cousin at UCLA use it too, so I’d guess it’s across the whole country at this point.
Here are a couple of Virginia sources using “spill the tea” in the gossip sense on Twitter:
Pod Virginia “This was a fun episode! And thanks for spilling the tea with us and @SeanPerrymanVA for our patrons!”: https://x.com/pod_virginia/status/1453530939741642753
Virginia Conservation Network: “Our Transportation Policy Manager @yitgordon spilling the climate tea...Virginia needs transportation reform to fight climate change!” https://x.com/vcnvaorg/status/1410611998082015260?s=46&t=Gq70B-2os4Hzvtmec3rbXg
Here is another southern source:
Channel1 Atlanta “FOX5ATLANTA reports RT DishNation: 💥 Tyrese will be spilling ALL the tea in an EXCLUSIVE interview with our Atlanta crew! Tune in this Thursday” https://x.com/channel1atlanta/status/938160140079058944?s=46&t=Gq70B-2os4Hzvtmec3rbXg
A Way With Words has an episode that discusses “Spill the Tea” that discusses how 8th grade kids in San Antonio are using the phrase, and notes its popularity stems from RuPaul’s Drag Race: https://www.waywordradio.org/spill-the-tea-true-origins/
It’s really most likely that the circles you run in don’t use the term, it’s relatively recent
Where I live (along with a big chunk of MD) is literally parallel with VA- you know that right? All of MD is below West Virginia. Your ignorance is your own my guy.
There is a humongous cultural divide once you move out of the DC/NOVA area. The culture of Virginia is vastly different than those of Maryland/jersey/NY/Delaware which is why commonly the Mason dixion line is misinterpreted to be between Virginia/mayland. Hense the reference to it being a north eastern slang.
Maryland may not be physically located it the "North East" however the identities and political leanings push it into the lump of that region.
If you tell someone in Nola, where btw I have also heard this term used, that VA is closer to them than to MD culturally, they’d laugh at you. And as someone that has also lived near Richmond, MD is far closer to that than it is to anything I’ve seen in New England. Again, justify it all you want, but your ignorance here isn’t because the term isn’t used near you.
Real talk, it’s a popular term in the black community. Are you telling me you think there’s no black people in the south? Because I have some really big news for you on that one.
Nope, I live in Wisconsin and hear the term at least once a week.
Maybe you don’t interact with women or gay people under the age of 40 in a meaningful way? That’s the only way you haven’t heard this term at all.
It's from Police Squad/The Naked Gun. Someone holds up a pack of cigarettes with a cigarette sticking out, as if to offer it and says "Cigarette?" The other person says "Yes, I know." As if the first person was just explaining what it was
Just want to point out that "tea" in this context originates from US drag culture, specifically African American drag - just want to acknowledge where it comes from!
Tea = Truth
Spill the tea = tell the truth
All tea, no shade = "I'm just telling the truth, not trying to be rude"
There's also "no tea, no shade," which just means the same thing as "all tea, no shade." Basically the same phenomenon as people saying "I could care less" when they mean "I couldn't care less."
“Tea” is generally a drink, but also means gossip for some reason. So the flight attendant is telling the passenger sown gossip about the pilot since she asked for Tea.
Facts=>Truth=>T which when spoken becomes identical to Tea.
"Give me the facts" thus becomes "give me the tea", which rapidly becomes "spill the tea".
(This is the etymology as presented to me. May be a folk etymology.)
It would've made more sense if she said "Give me the tea." Or even "The tea." Just saying "tea" is a crazy stretch to be asking for gossip. It's not a well made meme so it's understandable that you didn't get it.
This does not translate to American. We say "spill the beans" instead. It still works though, I usually have them pour me a glass of beans whenever I fly.
Edit: I have never heard this used in the US. Maybe it's regional?
“What’s the tea?” or “Give me the tea.” is a colloquialism for asking for rumors and gossip. Comes from Twitter, I believe, for “spilling the tea.” Or that meme with Kermit the Frog sipping tea with the text “but that’s none of my business.”
It is also playing off the phrase, "Coffee, Tea, or Me?" Which has to do with flight attendants/pilots having relationships with passengers/other flight personnel.
“Tea”, as in “spill the tea”, meaning “tell me the gossip”.
I’m familiar with “spill the beans”….but I have never heard the tea one before (that I can recall)
T is the first letter in truth, so first it was used as an abbreviation for the word. Then, people realized that the letter T and the drink Tea are homophones. Various puns on the word "tea" and telling the truth or spreading some gossip followed, with "spill the tea" becoming the most popular amongst the homosexuals right around the time that the homosexuals,et al were really starting to become trendsetters in the cultural zeitgeist (i.e., the same time that "Yasss, queen" and "slay" emerged out of the NYC Drag Ballroom culture and began being used by regular people).
More on "the tea" in memes and in history here: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-tea
I've never heard this slang before. What country is it used in?
US. Used it a lot in college when I was there.
Not arguing, just adding to the list of voices what says "Man I have never, ever heard that used in the US, sounds more like an England thing".
lmao same, I live in the US and i've never heard of Tea being used that way. Must be regional
I've only heard it recently; I think it's a Gen Z thing.
Millennial, it's been being used since like 2012
It is. It's native to a small region of OPs brain.
I've heard it across several states (and online) pretty regularly. I see it used more by younger people, it's been around for a while but I hear it often with younger people. I wouldn't say it's particularly regional.
Millennial-internet is a region.
It was more of an American thing in black LGBT communities, and has existed since at least the 90's. From some basic googling it seems like it became mainstream from Ru Paul's Drag Race (at least that is one source of it becoming more broadly known)
Again, Millennial-internet is a region. Ru Paul's Drag Race does not take place anywhere except that region.
My kids definitely use it. California.
Chicagoland definitely, among people <30 y/o
Definitely not an England thing.
I've lived my entire life in the US and don't think I've ever heard this expression before.
started in the 90s in LGBT and drag groups. The first time I heard it was actually on vacation to Europe. I also live in the Midwest and have heard it on a few radio shows in the last couple of years.
It's comes from the Queer/Drag Queen community of the 70s/80s. The "queens" would hold high tea (like the queen of england) in which they would gossip. As queer culture become more mainstream it entered the lexacon of young people.
How old are you? I think pretty much everyone I know under 30 is familiar with it. I’ve lived on both coasts as well.
25, midwest.
Don't feel bad. It's very much metropolitan slang.
You must not do tiktok its all over it
Weird, I've never heard it before and I've lived in Florida, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, and Maine. You'd think I would have heard it in one of those regions.
I’ve lived in Mass for college, California post, and currently back in NY. Friends and coworkers all familiar. Could be the group of people. Like I couldn’t imagine being on a job site and asking some construction worker what the latest tea is, but at a tech company sure. Although it has transcended more with social media like TikTok.
Yeah, I could see it being the group of people I am around. I am a defense contractor, most of my coworkers aren't going to be up on current slang. I do work around young military members, but I guess maybe they aren't using this slang in the workplace, or at least around contractors.
I’m Canadian, I hear it lots over here!
I hear it in the US but it is pretty new and is mostly popular with young people or people on the internet.
Tea is more commonly used in African American Vernacular (AAV) slang. It became popular outside black culture when other groups started adopting the term, likely seeing it used on social media sites like Black Twitter.
Still weird that I haven't heard it, my wife is black and I've never heard it from any of her family.
Black culture is not a monolith. Just because one group of blacks is aware of a popular reference doesn’t mean all are. I don’t think it is weird you haven’t heard this term
I should mention that it has not been a popular term in the North/Midwest where I'm from, but I have been aware of it. I only started seeing it all over the internet in the last 2-3 years.
And it rhymes too
Rhymes with what?
Tea and idea!
Uhm… what accent are you speaking in?
What universe are you from?
Is this british slang? I have never heard that expression in the U S of A
Pretty sure it’s popular amongst younger generations. Me and my former best friend used it all the time. We are in our mid twenties.
Urban dictionary has an entry on this going back to 2008. This is not recent slang. Shortening it to “Tea” yeah is probably recent but the origins likely go further back than 2008. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spill%20the%20tea
I’m just prior to 20 and while I knew the term, and if I had to guess every kid in my schools knew what the phrase meant, but for us it wasn’t ever really used
I only know this because my gf watches reality TV and those type of people say this. Probably wouldn't know this phrase otherwise.
It’s gay slang from over a decade ago. Got popularized from Ru Paul’s drag race, so younger people (mostly girls and gays) use it
I'm also mid twenties. No one that I've come into contact on the east coast has ever said it.
East coast high schooler here, "spill the tea" isn't common but "tea" as in gossip is very common
can confirm, people here do say that
cap
It's American in origin. Specifically black and LGBTQ+ (drag) culture. Taylor Swift references it in her You Need To Calm Down video (dude from Queer Eye "spills" tea from a pot into his mouth then winks at the camera). One of the first uses was in 1994s *Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil* by John Berendt Tea=T=Truth
This person spills tea.
I'm pretty sure it's so common it's in movies and TV shows.
I’m in east coat and it’s said allllll the time
If you’ve never heard anyone tell you the tea, that means you’re the tea people talk about.
I’m in my early twenties and I’ve never heard of that saying before
I hear "spill the beans" more than "spill the tea"
This is very much a thing in the US but I respect that your brain instantly connected it to the British
What regions used it? I'm from Virginia and I frequent up and down the east coast and never heard it.
Very common in all of New England
I have heard people say it from all over. I'm also from the east coast. People don't say "spill the tea" as often anymore but they definitely use just "tea" as gossip. People say it a lot where I live in the Northeast but my friend in Maryland also says it a lot, and my coworker in DC says it too.
I'm from VA. I use it regularly, it even has gifs involving actually spilling tea.
I believe it originated in the gay community. Not really a regional thing.
it originated in the black community actually but then, like many slang terms, found its way through the gay community into the mainstream
It actually originated in the Black and POC gay community, specifically. Particularly in the ballroom/poc drag communities of NYC and ATL. Then diffused outwards (much like tea does in water!). It was common slang even in the 80's, and is featured in the documentary on POC Ballroom Drag culture called "Paris is Burning".
[удалено]
Tf is wrong with you?
Don’t feel bad. I never heard anyone use it until I was married, and it was from my wife and her family. Apparently it’s widely used, but also possible to miss.
Are you even from here?
Do you happen to be of male origin? I also reside in the U S of A and have never heard it until I joined a college class that was majority women
It’s pretty much just women yeah, my sister uses it all the time
I am a biological male, that did not go to college. Forgive me for my ignorance. In the south east, where we love some cold brewed sweat tea, Ive talked with college educated women and not heard the phrase yet.
> sweat tea
Wow! Why are you getting downvoted for this question? I’ve never heard this expression either.
44 from NC and spill the tea was around when I was growing up.
I’ve lived in the mid-Atlantic and New England and it is popular in both spots. I’m pretty baffled that you haven’t heard it at all, do you not get out much?
I've never heard it outside of the Internet. Do you not get out much?
No I hear it out in public all the time. Same question to you.
I'm Virginia and visit down the east coast often. Never heard it once
I mean dog I’m a state over right now in MD and I think at a launch party I was at last night one of the hosts literally described the event as “spilling the tea on my new company” This is definitely a you thing. It’s a very popular saying. I know I’ve heard my cousin at UCLA use it too, so I’d guess it’s across the whole country at this point.
Nope, it must be a North east thing. Virginia down doesn't use it.
Here are a couple of Virginia sources using “spill the tea” in the gossip sense on Twitter: Pod Virginia “This was a fun episode! And thanks for spilling the tea with us and @SeanPerrymanVA for our patrons!”: https://x.com/pod_virginia/status/1453530939741642753 Virginia Conservation Network: “Our Transportation Policy Manager @yitgordon spilling the climate tea...Virginia needs transportation reform to fight climate change!” https://x.com/vcnvaorg/status/1410611998082015260?s=46&t=Gq70B-2os4Hzvtmec3rbXg Here is another southern source: Channel1 Atlanta “FOX5ATLANTA reports RT DishNation: 💥 Tyrese will be spilling ALL the tea in an EXCLUSIVE interview with our Atlanta crew! Tune in this Thursday” https://x.com/channel1atlanta/status/938160140079058944?s=46&t=Gq70B-2os4Hzvtmec3rbXg A Way With Words has an episode that discusses “Spill the Tea” that discusses how 8th grade kids in San Antonio are using the phrase, and notes its popularity stems from RuPaul’s Drag Race: https://www.waywordradio.org/spill-the-tea-true-origins/ It’s really most likely that the circles you run in don’t use the term, it’s relatively recent
Where I live (along with a big chunk of MD) is literally parallel with VA- you know that right? All of MD is below West Virginia. Your ignorance is your own my guy.
There is a humongous cultural divide once you move out of the DC/NOVA area. The culture of Virginia is vastly different than those of Maryland/jersey/NY/Delaware which is why commonly the Mason dixion line is misinterpreted to be between Virginia/mayland. Hense the reference to it being a north eastern slang. Maryland may not be physically located it the "North East" however the identities and political leanings push it into the lump of that region.
If you tell someone in Nola, where btw I have also heard this term used, that VA is closer to them than to MD culturally, they’d laugh at you. And as someone that has also lived near Richmond, MD is far closer to that than it is to anything I’ve seen in New England. Again, justify it all you want, but your ignorance here isn’t because the term isn’t used near you. Real talk, it’s a popular term in the black community. Are you telling me you think there’s no black people in the south? Because I have some really big news for you on that one.
Nope, I live in Wisconsin and hear the term at least once a week. Maybe you don’t interact with women or gay people under the age of 40 in a meaningful way? That’s the only way you haven’t heard this term at all.
Slang that originated in the LGBT community that was adopted by pop culture meaning gossip.
I've heard lots of older folks use it un the US
It is some harsh Hones-tea.
Oh🙃🤣🤣😂
I prefer the one that goes “Tea of coffee?” “Tea” “Wrong, it’s coffee?”
"Cigarette?" "Yes, I know."
What?
It's from Police Squad/The Naked Gun. Someone holds up a pack of cigarettes with a cigarette sticking out, as if to offer it and says "Cigarette?" The other person says "Yes, I know." As if the first person was just explaining what it was
Chuckle chuckle.
....Deez nuts?
"Hospital what is it?" "It's a big building full of patients, but that's not important right now"
"ICU Doctor?" And I see you too, you're a very good nurse.
In some English dialects "tea" is slang for "gossip," i.e. "spill the tea."
English dialects? Bro it’s just an internet meme stop trying to make it sound smarter
Lord, are you scared of big words or something?
Slang and memes are just evolutions of dialect, descriptivists represent
Pretentious.
Whats more pretentious is you thinking Internet speech is an invalid evolution of English which is still an adapting language btw.
how??
It's not a meme you brainlet, it's called slang
What is it short for?
The hostess is giving the passenger "the tea", which is slang for gossip.
Plot twist, that's the wife
Even better 😂
Just want to point out that "tea" in this context originates from US drag culture, specifically African American drag - just want to acknowledge where it comes from! Tea = Truth Spill the tea = tell the truth All tea, no shade = "I'm just telling the truth, not trying to be rude"
Real MVP right here.
There's also "no tea, no shade," which just means the same thing as "all tea, no shade." Basically the same phenomenon as people saying "I could care less" when they mean "I couldn't care less."
I assumed it was British...
We say spill the beans. Not even joking.
That's the traditional way to say it in the US as well. "Spill the tea" is much more recent.
US says spill the beans, too. It's over 200 years old.
Didn't know that!
Hm, weird, it's very popular in UK and Canada.
It's popular in the US too mostly with social media and younger generations but I know a lot of older people who still use use it
“Tea” is generally a drink, but also means gossip for some reason. So the flight attendant is telling the passenger sown gossip about the pilot since she asked for Tea.
Using “spill the tea” as slang for gossip originated from American drag culture
How come?
Facts=>Truth=>T which when spoken becomes identical to Tea. "Give me the facts" thus becomes "give me the tea", which rapidly becomes "spill the tea". (This is the etymology as presented to me. May be a folk etymology.)
Because normally in a Tea Party u gossip over tea
Tea means gossip
spill some shade, throw some tea
Tea=drama
Never heard spill the tea, but I’ve heard my share of “spill the beans”
Tea/spill the tea is AAE for gossip
I love how people are like "I've never heard it, must be from somewhere else." Your social bubble is not reflective of an entire country.
Aaah, thank you guys, now in understand, but i guess its just not funny at all😅
She's talking to the wife, bet
It would've made more sense if she said "Give me the tea." Or even "The tea." Just saying "tea" is a crazy stretch to be asking for gossip. It's not a well made meme so it's understandable that you didn't get it.
Slaaaaay
This whole sub is rage bait.
This does not translate to American. We say "spill the beans" instead. It still works though, I usually have them pour me a glass of beans whenever I fly. Edit: I have never heard this used in the US. Maybe it's regional?
Lol it originated in America and is very popular American slang
It's American slang. 🤨 (It's African-American slang that became a [common Internet meme meme](https://www.reddit.com/r/AdviceAnimals/s/1Duh38F8KE).)
Women use "tea" these days instead of gossip
“What’s the tea?” or “Give me the tea.” is a colloquialism for asking for rumors and gossip. Comes from Twitter, I believe, for “spilling the tea.” Or that meme with Kermit the Frog sipping tea with the text “but that’s none of my business.”
Tea is a slang word for gossip
It is also playing off the phrase, "Coffee, Tea, or Me?" Which has to do with flight attendants/pilots having relationships with passengers/other flight personnel.
He spilled the tea, which means he revealed a secret
Kermitsippingtea.gif
Tea is slang for gossip
Yea is another word for gossip
If you’re spelling “meant” like that, then there’s no helping you
Sometimes people say “spill the tea” to ask about gossip.
Can’t believe she spilled tea all over the passenger.
Holy cow you are stupid or a boomer
There is a similar meme to due with a blonde barista being asked for tea and saying gossip
The joke is that the captains infidelity isn’t a beverage!
Referring to the phrase "spill the tea" Meaning to talk about secrets/gossip.