What's tea?

If you hear someone asking that question (or the similar "What's the tea?"), they're probably not referring to the steeped, hot beverage that has long been cherished the world over.

Instead — to put it in other slang phrases of days past — they probably mean " what's the haps " or " what's the hot goss " or, for children of the pre-internet era, " what's the 411? "

In other words, what's going on? In this installment of NPR's Word of the Week, we'll explore the meaning of "tea."

The word traces its origins to Black gay culture.

The late William G. Hawkeswood — a gay anthropologist and author — wrote the 1991 book One of the Children: Gay Black Men in Harlem .

In it, he quotes a man named Nate about his experiences being Black and gay.

"'Straight life must be

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