Entry · catalog no. 1955
bring it
/ /brɪŋ ɪt/ /BRING-it
phrase · Ballroom scene, New York City · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
To bring your whole self to a performance — full attitude, confidence, and skill — daring the floor to match you. A challenge and a boast at once.
“When her category was called, she came to bring it.”
Origin & Attribution
Ball culture of New York, forged by queer and trans people of color from the 1970s and 80s and documented in 'Paris Is Burning' (1990). To 'bring it' is to arrive at the ball ready to out-serve the room. It rode into the mainstream alongside vogue at the turn of the 1990s but keeps its edge on the ballroom floor.
1970s–80s
Forged in NYC ball culture
1990
Documented in 'Paris Is Burning'
1990s–present
Enters mainstream via vogue
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Ballroom scene, New York City · 1980s
Spoken by
Ballroom houses; Black and Latino LGBTQ community
$BRINGIThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady41 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
58/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1985
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
'Paris Is Burning' (dir. Jennie Livingston) — 1990
film · cited
■
+ Cite a sourceDocumented ballroom performance language
reference
See also