Entry · catalog no. 1045
mopping
/ /ˈmɑː.pɪŋ/ /MOP-ing
verb · New York City (ballroom) · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
Stealing; lifting merchandise from a store. In the ballroom world, taking the clothes and accessories one couldn't afford in order to walk a category in the right fantasy.
“Half that outfit was mopped for the ball.”
Origin & Attribution
From the New York ballroom scene of Black and Latino queer and trans youth, for whom mopping was one way to furnish the glamour a ball demanded on no money. Documented in Jennie Livingston's 1991 film "Paris Is Burning."
1980s
In use in NYC ballroom
1991
Documented in Paris Is Burning
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
New York City (ballroom) · 1980s
Spoken by
Black and Latino ballroom youth
$MOPPINThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Dormant46 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
28/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1980
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
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Citations & Sources
■
Paris Is Burning — documentary film · 1991
submitted
■
+ Cite a sourceOut.com, "Mopping: Drag Slang" — article · 2012
submitted
See also