“Slay The House Down Boots” is drag culture slang used as a compliment or command to do something intensely fierce. The phrase combines three different colloquial terms and means that you either have achieved or should achieve something incredible, with “boots” added for extra emphasis.
Variations on the meme include “boots the house down” and “slay boots the house down Houston I’m deceased.” It’s possible that even more declarations could be added to the string, like a complimentary combo move.
Meme basics:
- Meme Creator: It’s complicated
- Meme Type: Slang
- First Appearance: Unknown, at least 2017
- Origin Source: Black drag culture
- Used to Convey: Extreme approval or encouragement
What does ‘Slay The House Down Boots’ mean?
Three distinct parts of this phrase combine to exponentially increase its impact. The first part, “slay,” grew to mean “killing it” not in a literal sense but more in terms of confidence and competence. To “slay” in this context means to perform one’s task so well and with such swagger that it impresses all who witness it.
The part about “the house down” is derived from the phrase “bring the house down,” which in theater terms refers to the dream of causing one’s audience to clap so hard that the sheer concussive force causes the building to come down.
Finally, “boots” is used here as an exclamation point. The word can also be a substitute for “very” depending on where it appears in a sentence, but it’s generally an emphasis term.
Where did ‘Slay The House Down Boots’ come from?
All of these terms have roots in Black and queer culture, often originating among Black trans women or drag queens in particular. “Slay” grew out of Black and Latine ballroom culture from the 1970s and 80s.
“Bring the house down” is even older, with its first appearance in a publication dating back to the 18th century. It’s long been a theater term, where the queer community so often flourishes and paired nicely with the word “slay” to eventually grow into “slay the house down.”
The use of “boots” as a term of emphasis is harder to pin down. However, Reddit posts going back as far as 2014 include explanations of this use as part of drag culture, specifically on the hit show RuPaul’s Drag Race.
These terms would all come together to form “Slay The House Down Boots” in the later 2010s. The first known use of the entire phrase on X.com (formerly Twitter) appeared on Feb. 5, 2017, by user @matthewbanjee. Over time, people have come to also apply the phrase ironically, especially upon those who may be using AAVE or drag culture terms carelessly.
Slay The House Down Boots Houston I’m Deceased
Adding “I’m deceased” to the end of this statement further adds to how utterly floored the person saying it has become over what they’ve witnessed, and is used exclusively as a compliment. The word “Houston” is a reference to astronauts communicating with NASA’s Mission Control facility in Houston, Texas.
This was originally part of the statement “Houston, we have a problem,” which is a misquote of an individual aboard the doomed Apollo 13 in 1970.
This phrase became a joke decades later, eventually becoming “Houston I’m deceased” as a way of declaring the severe impact of a thing. “I’m deceased” is a newer form of “I’m dead,” a phrase popularized in the 2010s as shorthand for “I laughed myself to death.” Today, one can become deceased from shock, awe, cringe, or any other strong emotions.
Meme examples
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