CULTURETECHLENSyas
STRONG EVIDENCE evidence grade — master store (canonical CSV)
Combined Graph record U-00842 · provenance: canonical master store (CSV), record CTL-W-0441. Master record source: CTL seed 2026-10-16 — UNVERIFIED, verify before public citation.
WordOrigins.org (Dave Wilton's etymology reference, fetched in full; sources include Oxford Dictionaries and American Speech's 'Among the New Words,' 2022): yas is 'a variation on yes,' used by Black and Latino drag ballroom culture in the 1980s 'as an exclamation of recognition, encouragement, and support'; many examples appear in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning; it reached general attention in 2013 (viral Lady Gaga fan video) and 2015 (Broad City), and 'was added to the online Oxford Dictionaries in 2017' (defined there as an exclamation 'expressing great pleasure or excitement'). Spellings vary with any number of a's and s's (yas/yass/yaaass).
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
WordOrigins.org (Dave Wilton's etymology reference, fetched in full; sources include Oxford Dictionaries and American Speech's 'Among the New Words,' 2022): yas is 'a variation on yes,' used by Black and Latino drag ballroom culture in the 1980s 'as an exclamation of recognition, encouragement, and support'; many examples appear in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning; it reached general attention in 2013 (viral Lady Gaga fan video) and 2015 (Broad City), and 'was added to the online Oxford Dictionaries in 2017'
The record
- Also known as: yass, yaaass
- Work type: phrase
Sources
- https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/yas-yassify (verification source · master store)
Evidence note (master store)
WordOrigins.org (Dave Wilton's etymology reference, fetched in full; sources include Oxford Dictionaries and American Speech's 'Among the New Words,' 2022): yas is 'a variation on yes,' used by Black and Latino drag ballroom culture in the 1980s 'as an exclamation of recognition, encouragement, and support'; many examples appear in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning; it reached general attention in 2013 (viral Lady Gaga fan video) and 2015 (Broad City), and 'was added to the online Oxford Dictionaries in 2017' (defined there as an exclamation 'expressing great pleasure or excitement'). Spellings vary with any number of a's and s's (yas/yass/yaaass).
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Record CTL-W-0441 · Combined Graph record U-00842 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 1 source.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
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Chicago: CultureTechLens. “yas (CTL-W-0441).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0441/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). yas (CTL-W-0441) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0441/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “yas (CTL-W-0441).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0441/
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