The Count Dragula* - Part Two

* Countdown of the odd linguistic expressions

of this 5th season of RuPaul's Drag Race (ep. 10 - 13).

4 Super Troopers.

Former U.S.A. soldiers

This episode didn't bring any great original language oddities. The Shemail segment presents the usual non-sense message with queer phrases.

"Sometimes a drag queen's got to do what a drag queen's got to do. Whether is laying a foundation or painting the house down." The house down is a phrase used by queens just to emphasise meaning.

"Remember the golden shower rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto Ru." Needless to say the the golden shower rule is a deviation of the phrase golden rule.

Nothing more proper to show how this sentence sounds weird than the reaction of Alaska, who not only looks puzzled but let out a "What?!"

The runway presentation was a bit more rewarding. 

"Hunty for Red October" being a quite funny allusion to the title The Hunt for Red October.

"America the bootifull." Bootiful is a blend of booty and beautiful; a word that is certainly not a new, but, not common.



Coco & Horchata Montrese

"Red sky at night. Sailor's delight." RuPaul says this out of the blue. This rhyme is a common wheather lore familiar to mariners.

"Is that your boa? Or you're just ready to flock me?" This is a deviation of the common sentence that ends in ...Or are you just happy to see me? This sentence is an example of a knob joke that makes reference to an erection and that was made popular by Mae West.

3 Sugar Ball: this is the episode in which the queens have to make a costume our of something - in this one, candies. So the Shemail segment delivered a message full of references to choc bars; this couldn't turn the English in the message more strange.

"Hey Kit-Kats! Don't

Sneaker. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you feel like A Hundred Thousand Dollar Bar - non. Here's Whatchamacallit." All words in italics are names of choc bars. Nut - I suppose - is short for Nutty Bar.

The puppet show presentation was a highlight of the entire season. The language used during this segment is also remarkable. RuPaul, as usual, abuses of double entendre refering to the hole where the puppets are. 

Alaska reaching for a puppet in the hole.



He couldn't also miss the opportunity to dig a film title to make fun of when Alaska had his arm into the hole: "A Fist Called Wanda." This is a reference to A Fish Called Wanda.

The runway
A few language pearls also ocurred during the runway presentation.

"Where my Peeps at?" 

RuPual makes reference to the catchphrase Where my people at? that Roxxy used in the song Can I Get an Amen. She replaces the word people for Peeps - marshmallow candies shaped like small animals.

"She's sixteen going on sickening." This sentence from the song Sixteen going on seventeen is frequently used in the show in a modified manner. Later in this episode Ms Visage refers to Jinkx look as "Sixteen going on forty-seven."

"Very Splenda in the Grass." RuPaul makes a reference to the film title Splendor in the Grass changing the word splendor for Splenda - name of an artificial sweetner.

The best double-entendre of the programme was perhaps this one from RuPaul: "Welcome ladies. Thanks to your candy couture... I've got a cavity. And it's throbbing."

2 The Final Three, Hunty

While this episode wasn't great on language oddities,

at least it presented two neologisms:

Chiffonography and Hairography 

blends of words chiffon and hair, respectively, and coreography.

1 Countdown to the Crown

In this last episode before the new drag superstar is revealed, RuPaul didn't spear the public of his encrypted double-entendre. So, that's how she opens the show: "Even I can't quite put my finger on the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, it will take to win the title of America's next drag superstar. " Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent, as already mentioned in previous posts, form an acronym to c.u.n.t. - vulgar word for vagina.

The English used in the review of this season's contestants would take a whole new post to be properly analysed. It's a very complex language full of references, allusions, and witticisms. But there's no time for that because the Reunion episode is about to air on tv. So I leave you with RuPaul's words which reveals how conscious he is of the strangeness of the Drag Queen's English.

"She bring it to you every ball. Why y'all gagging so? Did you understand that? If not, you could use a refresher course in Drag Linguistics; hashtag shitmygirlsays."

I'm sure this blog gives its contribution to native and non-native English users everywhere.

I hope you learned and enjoyed.