ISSN 2011-799X
Artículo recibido: 02/08/2022
Artículo aceptado: 12/12/2023
doi: 10.17533/udea.mut.v16n1a11“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag
Language Verb in RuPaul’s Drag Race
into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words
Willian Henrique Cândido Moura
willianmoura.tradutor@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2675-6880
Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.
Luciana Iost Vinhas
luciana.vinhas@ufrgs.br
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1026-2277
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Abstract
RuPaul’s Drag Race is a reality show that has been on air since 2009. Throughout its seasons, the show
received multiple spin-offs and became a franchise with versions in several countries around the world.
Due to this popularization, we consider that Drag Race plays an unavoidable role in the way that we
socially understand drag culture nowadays. In this paper, we analyze the translation into Brazilian
Portuguese of a drag language verb used in the speech of Season 13 contestants of the reality show
broadcast in Brazil by Netflix. We present a contrastive analysis between the subtitling and the entries
for the verb in general bilingual Portuguese-English/English-Portuguese dictionaries. The analysis is
based on materialist discourse analysis, on theorizations about camp and drag, and on research on
the audiovisual translation of the show. Our findings indicate that the subtitling of RuPaul’s Drag Race
allows the circulation of other unforeseen meanings for verbs that are part of this semantic-discursive
network in Brazilian Portuguese. We reflect on the effects of meanings put into circulation by verbs
in drag language, which do not compose what can and should be said from the dominant ideological
position in our social formation, and on its dictionary use, which obeys processes of institutionaliza-
tion of the hegemonic knowledge. Through this study, we stated that the functioning of drag language
comes to be understood as “drag words,” as it performs caricatures of femininity by subverting the
barriers imposed by the gender binarism that dominantly regulates social relations.
Keywords: drag language, queer language, camp talk, materialist discourse analysis, audiovisual
translation

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words183Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
«But, bitch, I’m still serving it». La subtitulación de un verbo del lenguaje drag
en RuPaul’s Drag Race al portugués brasileño: nuevos significados, viejas
palabras
Resumen
RuPaul’s Drag Race es un programa de telerrealidad emitido desde 2009. A lo largo de sus tempo-
radas, el programa ha ganado spin-offs y se ha convertido en una franquicia con versiones en va-
rios países del mundo. Debido a esta popularización, consideramos que el programa tiene un papel
ineludible en lo que actualmente entendemos por cultura drag. Este artículo tiene como objetivo
analizar la traducción al portugués brasileño de un verbo del lenguaje drag empleado en el discur-
so de participantes de la 13ª temporada del programa de telerrealidad, transmitido en Brasil por
Netflix. Realizamos un análisis contrastivo entre las traducciones de los subtítulos de las escenas y
las acepciones del verbo en diccionarios generales bilingües portugués-inglés/inglés-portugués. El
análisis se basó en el análisis materialista del discurso, las teorizaciones sobre lo camp y lo drag,
e investigaciones sobre la traducción audiovisual del programa. Observamos que la subtitulación
de RuPaul›s Drag Race permite la circulación de otros significados no previstos para los verbos que
forman parte de esta red semántico-discursiva en portugués brasileño. Con esto, reflexionamos sobre
los efectos de significado que ponen en circulación los verbos en el lenguaje drag, que no componen
lo que puede y debe decirse desde la posición ideológica dominante en nuestra formación social, y
en su uso diccionarizado, que obedece a procesos de institucionalización del saber hegemónico. A
través de este estudio, planteamos que el funcionamiento del lenguaje drag pasa a entenderse como
«palabras drag», ya que performa caricaturas de la feminidad al subvertir las barreras impuestas por
el binarismo de género que regula dominantemente las relaciones sociales.
Palabras clave: lenguaje drag, lenguaje queer, camp talk, análisis materialista de discurso, traducción
audiovisual
« But, bitch, I’m still serving it ». Sous-titrage d’un verbe du langage drag dans
RuPaul’s Drag Race : nouvelles significations, anciens mots
Resumé
RuPaul’s Drag Race est une émission de téléréalité lancée en 2009. Au fil de ses saisons, elle est de-
venue une véritable franchise, comptant de nombreux spin-offs (ou versions) dans plusieurs pays du
monde. Du fait de cette diffusion à grande échelle, nous pensons que le programme télé joue un rôle
incontournable dans ce que, de nos jours, nous entendons socialement par « drag ». Cet article vise à
étudier la traduction en portugais brésilien des verbes du « langage drag » utilisés dans le discours des
participants de la 13e saison de la téléréalité, diffusée au Brésil sur Netflix. Nous avons effectué une
analyse contrastive entre la traduction des sous-titres des différentes scènes et les entrées des diction-
naires généraux bilingues portugais-anglais / anglais-portugais portant sur ces verbes. La recherche
s’est basée sur l’analyse matérialiste du discours, les théorisations sur le « camp » et le « drag », et la
traduction audiovisuelle. Il a été observé que le sous-titrage de RuPaul’s Drag Race permet l’apparition
de sens nouveaux et inattendus, vis-à-vis des verbes de ce réseau sémantico-discursif en portugais
brésilien. En outre, il convient de s´attarder davantage sur les effets de sens véhiculés par les verbes
dans le « langage drag », qui se démarquent de ce qui peut et doit être dit selon la position idéolo-
gique dominante de notre système social, et dans son usage du dictionnaire, qui obéit à des processus

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas184Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
d’institutionnalisation du savoir hégémonique. Le fonctionnement du « langage drag » commence
à s´appréhender en tant qu’e « mots drag », en ce sens qu’il dresse des caricatures de la féminité en
renversant les barrières imposées par la binarité du genre qui régit de manière dominante les rapports
sociaux.
Mots-clés : langage drag, langage queer, camp talk, analyse matérialiste du discours, traduction au-
diovisuelle
“But, bitch, I’m still serving it”. A legendagem de um verbo da linguagem drag
em RuPaul’s Drag Race para o português brasileiro: novos sentidos, velhas
palavras
Resumo
RuPaul’s Drag Race é um reality show que está no ar desde 2009. Ao longo de suas temporadas, o pro-
grama ganhou diversos spin-offs e se tornou uma franquia com versões em vários países do mundo.
Devido a essa popularização, consideramos que o reality tem um papel incontornável no que, hoje
em dia, entendemos socialmente por cultura drag. Este artigo tem o objetivo de analisar a tradução
ao português brasileiro de verbos da linguagem drag empregados na fala de participantes da 13ª tem-
porada do reality show, veiculada, no Brasil, pela Netflix. Realizamos uma análise contrastiva entre
a legendagem da cena e os verbetes de dicionários gerais bilíngues português-inglês/inglês-português
sobre o referido verbo. A análise foi baseada na Análise Materialista de Discurso, nas teorizações
sobre o camp e o drag e em pesquisas sobre a tradução audiovisual do programa. Observamos que a
legendagem de RuPaul’s Drag Race permite a circulação de outros sentidos não previstos para verbos
que fazem parte dessa rede semântico-discursiva em português brasileiro. Com isso, refletimos sobre
os efeitos de sentido colocados em circulação pelos verbos na linguagem drag, que não compõem o
que pode e deve ser dito a partir da posição ideológica dominante na nossa formação social, e em seu
emprego dicionarizado, que obedece a processos de institucionalização de saberes hegemônicos. Por
meio deste estudo, afirmamos que o funcionamento da linguagem drag passa a ser compreendido
como “palavras montadas”, pois performa caricaturas da feminilidade ao subverter as barreiras im-
postas pelo binarismo de gênero que dominantemente regula as relações sociais.
Palavras-chave: linguagem drag, linguagem queer, camp talk, análise materialista de discurso, tradu-
ção audiovisual

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words185Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
This comes out clearly in the vulgar use of the word
Camp as a verb ‘to camp’, something that people
do. To camp is a mode of seduction - one which
employs flamboyant mannerisms susceptible of a
double interpretation: gestures full of duplicity, with
a witty meaning for cognoscenti and another more
impersonal, for outsiders. Equally and by extension,
when the word becomes a noun, when a person or a
thing is ‘a camp’, a duplicity is involved
Susan Sontag (2018, p. 13)
Introduction
The emergence of RuPaul’s Drag Race transformed
the history of reality shows and drag culture
worldwide. Created and hosted by drag celebrity
RuPaul Andre Charles, the show began broad-
casting on the pay tv channel Logo in 2009. The
goal of the reality show is to select, from an ini-
tial group of drag queens, the one who will be
considered the next drag superstar of the United
States. Each episode presents a maxi-challenge,
which selects the queens with the best perfor-
mance—among whom the winner of the chal-
lenge is chosen—and those who had the worst
performance. The two queens with the worst
evaluation in the maxi-challenge and the worst
outfits presented on the catwalk are selected to
lip-sync a traditional or popular song in drag
culture. The queen who does not have the best
lip-sync is eliminated from the competition.
The number of drag queens varies between
seasons, as does the number of challenges
and the format for selecting the participants.
There are occasions when RuPaul decides that
two queens will be eliminated in the same epi-
sode, which is called “double elimination.” This
was first seen in the fourth episode of Season 5
with the elimination of both contestants Vivi-
enne Pinay and Honey Mahogany. Likewise,
RuPaul may decide to keep two queens on the
show after the lip-sync, which is called a “dou-
ble shantay.” This first happened when the
hostess saved both Yara Sofia and Carmen Car-
rera in Season 3. Despite relying on the judges’
evaluations—Michelle Visage, Carson Kress-
ley, and Ross Mathews have been regulars in
recent editions— the decision concerning the
elimination and the best performance always
rests with RuPaul.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is of special interest to us
because it is extremely influential in the con-
stitution and dissemination of the so-called
“drag culture,” which is characterized, among
other elements, by the language used by the
contestants. RuPaul’s Drag Race promoted the
diffusion of different elements of this culture,
which has currently become popular and takes
part in the way that clothes, makeup, linguistic
features, and music are inserted in our social
formation, no longer considered as something
marginal (Collins, 2017; Villanueva-Jordán,
2019a; Barra et al., 2020; Brennan & Gudelunas,
2022). We see the audiovisual translation of
the reality show as a social phenomenon that
broadens the way in which drag language and
queer culture are perceived and understood be-
yond the context of its production.
Our paper is based on theories supported by
the materiality of language in its semantic-dis-
cursive relationships, materialized both in ver-
bal and non-verbal elements of the audiovisual
translation of drag language. Through materi-
alist discourse analysis, we aim to analyze the
subtitling into Brazilian Portuguese of a drag
language verb used in the speech of partici-
pants in the reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race,
broadcast in Brazil by the streaming platform
Netflix.1 We will focus on the last season avail-
able on this platform until the writing of this
article, Season 13, which took place in the first
half of 2021 with 13 contestants. The impor-
tance of this study derives from its problematiza-
tion of the relation between dictionary language,
which obeys the processes of institutionaliza-
tion of hegemonic knowledge, and drag lan-
guage, which puts into circulation knowledge
that does not conform to what can and should
be said from the dominant ideological position
in our social formation.
1 Until July 2022, the most recent season of the
show, Season 14, is available in Brazil only
through the streaming platform Paramount+.

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas186Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
2. Theoretical Framework
The theoretical articulation that supports this
research involves four work fields: (1) camp
and camp talk; (2) drag queens and drag lan-
guage; (3) audiovisual translation of RuPaul’s
Drag Race; and (4) materialist discourse anal-
ysis, semantics, and dictionary, which we de-
scribe in this section.
2.1. Camp and Camp Talk
In the 1960s, Susan Sontag published Notes on
‘Camp’ (Sontag, 2018), an essay that gave new
visibility to the homosexual community. At that
time, a homosexual person was considered a
mental patient, because homosexuality2 was a
pathology cataloged in the International Clas-
sification of Diseases (Laurenti, 1984), which
reinforced a negative view of homosexual peo-
ple as individuals belonging to a community.
In her essay, Sontag (2018) established the char-
acteristics of camp aesthetics, whose essence is
linked to a predilection for what is unnatural,
artificial, extravagant, and exaggerated. In a
complex way, the author related camp to homo-
sexuality because, although the taste for camp
does not correspond exactly to the homosexual
taste, it is clear that there is a peculiar affinity
between both. In addition, Sontag (2018) stated
that there are things that can be camp, such as
objects, people, movies, clothes, music, etc. In this
sense, we understand that language can also be
camp. According to Harvey (1998, 2000) camp
talk contains verbal and semiotic elements that
can be used to produce surface textual and visual
effects. From this, Harvey (2000) lists four strat-
egies through which camp signals its meanings,
namely paradox, inversion, ludicrism, and parody.
Authors like Harvey (2000) and Martínez
Pleguezuelos (2017) argue that camp encom-
passes a set of actions, gestures, speeches, and
2 In Brazil, homosexuality [homossexualidade] was incor-
rectly called homossexualismo [homosexualism], fur-
ther reinforcing the concept of disease in the term.
linguistic features that constitute an exaggerat-
ed parody of women’s behavior. It is not about
imitating a woman, but about presenting an ex-
cessive caricature of one. Furthermore, these
authors mention that it is important to consider
the subversive potential of queer discourse to
deconstruct the sex/gender system, which has
been naturalized in our society through bino-
mials such as man/woman and heterosexual/
homosexual. As Sontag (2018, p. 12) explains,
“camp sensitivity is one that is alive to a dou-
ble sense in which some things can be taken.”
Based on these characteristics of camp, we
understand that drag language, that is, the
language used by drag queens, is intrinsical-
ly linked to camp talk, as explained in what
follows.
2.2. Drag Queens and Drag Language
The concept of “drag queen” has changed over
time. Until the mid-2010s, several researchers
defined drag queens as gay men who perform in
women’s clothing but do not try to hide the fact
that they are men (Newton, 1972; Tyler, 1991;
Barrett, 1998; Rupp et al., 2010; Mann, 2011).
More recently, Parsemain (2019, pp. 96–97) de-
fines drag as “the practice of cross-dressing in
front of an audience ( ... ). The art of transform-
ing oneself to perform femininity [drag queens]
or masculinity [drag kings] in front of an audi-
ence”. In both definitions, we observe that drag
queens challenge hegemonic masculinity and
heteronormativity through their performances.
We believe that RuPaul’s Drag Race plays an
unavoidable role in the way that we socially
understand drag today. We hold such statement
because, over the seasons of the reality show, two
contestants came out as trans women during their
participation in the show: Kylie Sonique Love in
the episode “Reunion” in Season 2, and Moni-
ca Beverly Hillz during a runway challenge in
Season 5. Other contestants declared to be trans
after participating in the reality show: Car-
men Carrera and Stacy Layne Matthews (Sea-
son 3), Jiggly Caliente and Kenya Michaels
(Season 4), Honey Mahogany (Season 5), Gia

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words187Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
Gunn and Laganja Estranja (Season 6). In
Season 9, Peppermint became known as the
first contestant to debut in the competition as a
trans woman; and in Season 13, Gottmik was
the first trans man to participate in the show.
In this sense, we observe that even the drag
community, brought to the mainstream due to the
show’s success, was still stuck in the sex/gender
binarism. Little by little, this binarism is being
deconstructed as new contestants who identify
with other genders participate in the competi-
tion. This rupture with the social conventions
dictated by the sex/gender system makes drag,
as a transgressive performance, destabilize those
categories “by making visible the social basis of
femininity and masculinity, heterosexuality and
homosexuality, and presenting hybrid and mi-
nority genders and sexualities” (Rupp et al.,
2010, p. 277). Therefore, we affirm that RuPaul’s
Drag Race increases understanding of drag’s
gender dynamics by giving visibility to genres
other than the cis and becomes an important
part of the lgbtqia+ movement’s history.
Through drag performance, we can try to under-
stand the transgressive power of queering gen-
der and sexuality, as drag subverts hegemonic
masculinity and heteronormative sexual iden-
tity. As Stryker (2006, p. 10) and Parsemain
(2019, p. 97) propose: “drag shows that gender
is something we ‘do,’ not something we ‘are.’”
By looking at drag from this perspective, we
find approximations with camp, mainly in aes-
thetic terms and how certain elements acquire
a double meaning. For Newton (1972, p. 104),
camp and drag queens are closely related: “both
the drag queen and the camp are expressive
performing roles, and both specialize in trans-
formation.” Newton (1972) emphasizes that,
in drag, transformation is related to the rever-
sal of male-female gender roles, while camp is
concerned with a philosophy of transforma-
tion, an incongruity.
Drag language is related to camp talk since it
puts into circulation linguistic elements that do
not conform to the discourse that is established
from the dominant ideological position in to-
day’s society. At the same time, drag language
destabilizes the dominant sense, questioning and
producing a caricature of the dominant position.
At this point, we begin to analyze the process
of formulating utterances: words, expressions,
and propositions. This process, in relation to
the conditions of discourse production, enables
the production of effects of meanings unfore-
seen by semantic networks ideologically forged
and put into circulation in different enunciative
spaces of the drag scene. These words are simul-
taneously incongruous with traditional linguis-
tic and normative conventions (camp) and they
play with male-female gender roles (drag). It
is as if certain words also dragged when pene-
trating drag language, that is, as if they served
something specific related to the drag universe,
which leads to the transgressive character of
queer discourse.
A common practice in drag language is “to
use feminine third-person singular pronouns
to refer to drag queens within this speech com-
munity” (Mann, 2011, p. 809). Concerning
this linguistic feature, Barrett (2017) describes
the language of drag queens as a performance
marked by the grammatical use of the female
gender, although, in most cases, drag queens
do not see themselves as women when they are
de-dragged. Comparing the pronominal uses
in the speeches of drag kings and drag queens
through ethnographic research, Rupp et al.
(2010, p. 280) identified that drag kings have
a greater predilection “to match pronouns to
gender of presentation than the drag queens,
who in everyday life switch back and forth be-
tween masculine and feminine pronouns.”
Drag queens emphasize social stereotypes
about what it means to be feminine (fishy3).
3 According to the show’s fandom, fishy is “a term
used to describe a drag queen who looks extreme-
ly feminine, or one who convincingly resembles a
cis woman. The term is a reference to the scent
of a vagina, which is colloquially likened to the
smell of fish” (RuPaul’s Drag Race Dictionary).

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas188Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
According to Mann (2011), creative linguistic
features shared across multiple language vari-
eties and expletives mark drag queens’ uses of
language. As Barrett (1998, 2017) exemplifies,
in drag performance, there is a mix of linguistic
variants of three different social groups: white
females, gay males, and African Americans. Al-
though this linguistic characteristic does not re-
flect a natural discourse of any of these groups
(Barret, 1998), this exchange of linguistic vari-
ants performs individual characteristics and
identity aspects of race, gender, and sexuality
(Mann, 2011).
We consider that these linguistic characteristics
used by drag queens to perform femininity are
features of camp, as “in the mid-sixties, camp
was an in-group word which denoted specifical-
ly homosexual humor” (Newton, 1972, p. xx).
This tradition of camp humor, that is, homo-
sexual humor that plays with stereotypes, es-
pecially female and homosexual stereotypes,
can currently be seen as self-deprecating (Rupp
et al., 2010). However, like Harvey (2000) and
Martínez Pleguezuelos (2017), we understand
that camp aesthetics and camp talk are not re-
ally about imitating a woman, but about pre-
senting a parody, an excessive caricature of a
woman, deconstructing the sex/gender sys-
tem through queer discourse and drag queens’
performances.
Since “drag queens have a knack for their abil-
ity to play with language, creating inside jokes,
catchphrases, and neologisms” (Libby, 2014,
p. 52), it is possible to visualize features of
camp humor in drag language through an
iconic catchphrase from RuPaul’s Drag Race:
The “grammatical cross-dressing” of RuPaul’s
catchphrase “Gentlemen, start your engines,
and may the best woman win!” transgresses
the gender binary by suggesting that the con-
testants are both male and female. Although
most queens in the series identify as cisgen-
der men, they call themselves “girls” and
“ladies” and use female pronouns and drag
names even when out of drag. (Parsemain,
2019, p. 97)
Although iconic, the catchphrase was replaced
in Season 13, in 2021, as it did not encompass
the diversity of genders of the show’s contes-
tants and received negative reviews from the
audience. “The exclusion of transgender wom-
en from the competition reflects binary ideol-
ogies that have traditionally dominated drag
culture” (Parsemain, 2019, p. 100). The new
catchphrase “Racers, start your engines, and
may the best drag queen win” follows the evo-
lution of drag; it presents an inclusive language
for trans and non-binary contestants, consider-
ing that since Season 2, when Kylie Sonique
Love came out as a trans woman, Drag Race
made very few changes. Parsemain (2019) cites
as an example that, in 2015, the segment “She
Done Already Done Had Herses” replaced
“Girl… You Got She-Mail” which had a trans-
phobic charge. The linguistic features debated
in this subsection describe what we call drag
language. However, it is also important to un-
derstand how drag language is translated from
English into different languages. Next, we
present works that investigated the audiovisual
translation of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
2.3. Audiovisual Translation
of RuPaul’s Drag Race
In this subsection, we present papers that an-
alyze the audiovisual translation of RuPaul’s
Drag Race. In the timeline presented by Vil-
lanueva-Jordán4 (2022), updated on July 25,
2022, we found six articles dealing with this
subject. By bringing these works together, it is
possible to identify the theoretical and method-
ological bases of the authors and indicate pos-
sible improvements in research designs on the
subject (Villanueva-Jordán & Chaume, 2021).
In addition, this cataloging has shown that the
intersection of research on both topics allows
the identification of theoretical aspects about
different sexualities and their representation in
4 Villanueva-Jordán (2022) has been cataloging, in a
detailed and didactic way, research on audiovisual
translation and lgbtqia+ studies that have been
published in peer-reviewed journals and books.

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words189Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
the audiovisual translation of linguistic fea-
tures, for example. This leads to a progressive
integration of lgbtqia + related studies in the
field of translation studies (Villanueva-Jordán,
2021), as we present in Section 4.
Villanueva-Jordán (2019a) discussed the con-
cepts of dragqueenism and audiovisual transla-
tion, identifying how the fansubbing of RuPaul’s
Drag Race, that is, the subtitling made by fans of
the show, translates camp as a form of represen-
tation of drag performance in Latin Ameri-
can Spanish subtitles. The author concluded
that the subtitles made by fans impacted the
reception of dragqueenism and the consump-
tion of the program in several Hispanic Amer-
ican countries. This impact could be seen when
camp talk, an essential part of drag culture,
gained visibility in spaces beyond the subtitles
made by fans, as viewers of this version began
to use this language in other spaces, such as
comments in Facebook groups and online dis-
cussion forums.
Another work by Villanueva-Jordán (2019b) an-
alyzed the presence of micro-textual elements
referring to camp talk and the way these ele-
ments were translated in the Spanish subtitling
available on Netflix compared to the subtitling
made by fans on the RuPaul’s Drag Race Vene-
zuela Facebook community. The author ob-
served that both subtitles used female gender
marking in the translation, respecting one of the
main characteristics of camp talk. In addition,
Villanueva-Jordán (2019b) found that Netflix
subtitles had a large number of literal transla-
tions,5 which can be seen as a remnant of the
fact that camp talk has been going through an
acculturation process.
5 We emphasize that literal translation in the work
of Villanueva-Jordán (2019b) is one of the trans-
lation techniques. In discourse analysis, literal
translation refers to a conception of language as
transparent, understood, therefore, as one of the
possible effects of meaning to be established by
the relationship between languages.
Barra et al. (2020) explored the distribution, cir-
culation, and reception of RuPaul’s Drag Race in
Italy. The authors’ investigation was based on
the process of adaptation and dubbing of the
reality show and the local and international
projections of the hostess, RuPaul. The results
showed that over the course of a decade, the
Italian edition and the program’s distribution
changed along with the national media land-
scape and its audience. The authors also con-
cluded that “much of the entertaining potential
of the RuPaul’s Drag Race show is based on ver-
bal and cultural humor, which is hard to prop-
erly translate (and to communicate) in Italian”
(Barra et al., 2020, p. 14). These results show
that the translation of camp talk is a challenge,
and the way this sociolect is translated impacts
the understanding of the audiovisual product
and, consequently, its reception.
Passa (2021a) debated the translation techniques
and strategies used by translators to linguistical-
ly characterize drag queens in the voice-over of
RuPaul’s Drag Race into Peninsular Spanish.
The results showed the complexity of translat-
ing drag language and that many features of
drag lingo were standardized, generalized, or
eliminated; many double meanings were made
explicit; and other words of this sociolect were
creatively invented. Regarding the aspects of
the use of the feminine grammatical gender
before masculine words, the author concluded
that in most cases the translation kept the same
meaning. This process reflects the non-binary
condition of drag queens and makes a parody
of heteronormative society.
Tavares and Branco (2021) investigated the
translation of drag language in the subtitling of
RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese.
For these authors, the show is full of idioms
used by the drag community in the United
States (us). The translation of these idioms is
a fruitful topic for translational discussions be-
cause there may be issues with equivalence and
(self-)censorship in the translation process due
to the specificity of the idioms and the source
and target cultures. In this sense, Tavares and

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas190Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
Branco (2021) propose the use of pajubá, the
name given to the lgbtqia+ dialect in Brazil,
as an alternative for translating the us drag lan-
guage. The authors concluded that the subtitlers
had translated the expressions of the us drag lan-
guage through idioms of the pajubá in some cases
but not in others, which shows that the subtitlers
knew the lgbtqia+ sociolect in both languages.
Using corpus linguistics, Passa (2021b) high-
lighted the construction of drag lingo and par-
enting in RuPaul’s Drag Race by analyzing the
discourse around drag family, parenthood, and
sisterhood in a corpus of 174 episodes, includ-
ing the intralingual subtitles of the first thirteen
seasons of the show. The author carried out an
investigation using the #LancsBox software to
analyze linguistic data. The results presented
by Passa (2021b) showed that femininity plays
a leading role within drag lingo, as the occur-
rences of female forms outnumbered their male
counterparts. The data on the drag family dis-
course revealed that, in the show, the mean-
ings of parenting revolved around emotional
support and refuge for young gay men who were
rejected by their biological families, though refer-
ences are also made to the financial support that
drag queens receive inside their drag houses.
By analyzing the few studies that focus on the
audiovisual translation of RuPaul’s Drag Race,
we can see that the audiovisual translation of
queer language, here materialized by the lan-
guage of drag queens, is a useful topic of activ-
ism for translation studies. Thus, we present a
discursive analysis of the translation of a drag
language verb because we understand that the
production of meanings is materialized in both
texts, that is, in the source text and its transla-
tion. Below, we present the discourse analysis
perspective that we work with in this article.
2.4. Materialist Discourse Analysis,
Semantics, and Dictionary
As previously mentioned, a semantic perspec-
tive of discourse analysis from a materialist
tradition supports our work. The main assump-
tion of this approach is that the production of
meanings do not exist apart from a relationship
with ideology. Through language, ideology is
produced and reproduced materially in our
social formation (Pêcheux, 1982). All forms of
material existence, which can encompass both
verbal and non-verbal language, are understood
as materializations of political, ideological, and
class positions (Haroche, Pêcheux, & Henry,
2007). Thus, elements considered pragmatic or
semiotic are understood from the discursive per-
spective as material forms of ideology. Such
designations, coming from other epistemologi-
cal fields, are not incorporated into the theoret-
ical-analytical device of materialist discourse
analysis, which considers all material existenc-
es subject to analysis.
Camp talk can be understood as a polysemic form
of production of meaning which occurs through
the caricaturing of women. These meanings
differ from the hegemonic, stabilized meaning
of woman (and also of man), as a critique of
this gender binarism. This caricaturing is materi-
alized through both visual composition (gestures,
clothing, body movements), and linguistic features
(words, expressions, and propositions, including
suprasegmental elements of oral language). The
material forms go beyond this logically stabi-
lized imaginary of women. It causes gaps and
points out flaws in the dominant imaginary
about women and about how someone can go
beyond the logically stabilized meanings of sex-
ual binarism. It is part of a heterogeneous and
diverse field of gender relations, which gains
material form through verbal and non-verbal
language. All this causes a rupture with the he-
gemonic knowledge that circulates in our social
formation, thus affecting how subjects relate to
the meanings imaginatively forged about them-
selves, about the other, and the (im)possible
sociability. Therefore, drag language provokes
the emergence of a new political, ideological,
and class position in the way meanings are pro-
duced, formulated, and circulated, marking a
position in the dispute of meanings to be estab-
lished and reproduced.

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words191Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
As we will explain in Section 3, our analysis is
based on dictionaries. At that point, we agree
with Petri (2008) when the author addresses
the constitutive heterogeneity of dictionaries.
Despite the popular belief that dictionaries are
places of language observation where politi-
cal-ideological disagreements can be reduced,
for us, dictionaries materialize certain positions
that allow the reproduction of certain meanings
but not others. However, the other meaning is
always present in the dictionary, constituting
what is said and leaving its marks. The meanings
that can and should be formulated in dictionar-
ies are the effects of a socio-historical-ideological
process that materializes what is considered
the dominant meaning of a given term. Thus,
the dictionary6 puts the dominant knowledge
about words into circulation, materializing part
of the process of social dispute that revolves
around language. It is as if, on the one hand,
the drag language tried to disrupt the sediment-
ed language that permeates our social formation,
and on the other hand, dictionaries worked to
preserve the meanings that can and should be
shared socially.
Therefore, when we look at the dictionary as a
discursive object that stabilizes the dominant
meanings in our social formation and we estab-
lish a relationship with the reality show, we will
have other possible formulations for the selected
terms, coming from the so-called drag language,
whose presence in general dictionaries is still
absent. The dictionary produces an effect of
6 We are not considering specific monolingual or
bilingual dictionaries about queer language, for
example, in both languages studied. Our study
proposal deals with general and online bilingual
dictionaries. Our election is also a criticism, since
we notice that this type of dictionary does not in-
corporate the “new meanings” of words in recent
editions, even in digital format. Despite the fact
that these “new meanings” are starting to have
their use socially established in minority commu-
nities that have been historically stigmatized by
the hegemonic culture, in this case, the lgbtqia+
community, the dictionaries still maintain a con-
servative view of the process.
the totality of possible meanings as if every-
thing that can and should be said were present
in its entries. However, because the material that
constitutes the dictionary, that is, the language,
is opaque and prone to misunderstanding (Le-
andro-Ferreira, 2003), we can question this
imaginary by considering what is not said but
constitutes what is said. That is why the dictio-
nary, despite trying to build a homogeneous and
stable discourse about language, is constitutively
heterogeneous due to the existence of language
in the discursivity of the archive (Pêcheux, 1994).
3. Methodology
In this section, we present our study material
as well as the reasons that led us to choose it.
We describe the criteria established for the se-
lection of the drag language verb and, finally,
the step-by-step procedure used in the analysis.
3.1. Material
Our material is Season 13 of the reality show
RuPaul’s Drag Race. We chose this show due to
its current relevance for drag culture, given that
it has been on air since 2009 and has had 14 sea-
sons, launched until July 2022. RuPaul’s Drag
Race released several spin-offs: RuPaul’s Drag Race
All Stars, RuPaul’s Drag U, RuPaul’s Secret Celebri-
ty Drag Race, and behind the scenes of elimina-
tions RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked. With great
international acceptance, the show became a
franchise, with contests hosted by RuPaul in the
United Kingdom (RuPaul’s Drag Race uk) and in
Australia & New Zealand (RuPaul’s Drag Race
Down Under). Besides these, the show also has
versions presented in Canada (Canada’s Drag
Race), Chile (The Sweet Drag Race), Spain (Drag
Race España), France (Drag Race France), Holland
(Drag Race Holland), Italy (Drag Race Italia),
and Thailand (Drag Race Thailand).
As we stated in Section 1, this reality show is
a competition for drag queens to demonstrate
their abilities in drag performance. Season 13
of the show took place between January and
April 2021. The season was filmed during the

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas192Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
covid -19 pandemic, relying on strict protocols,
including isolation and testing of contestants,
judges, and crew (Alter, 2021). It had 16 ep-
isodes and 13 participants: Symone, Kandy
Muse, Gottmik, Rosé, Olivia Lux, Utica Queen,
Tina Burner, Denali, Elliott with 2 Ts, LaLa Ri,
Tamisha Iman, Joey Jay, and Kahmora Hall.
3.2. Selecting the Corpus of Analysis
As Libby (2014) points out, drag queens create
their own vocabulary. In this sense, we did
not find studies in the literature that specifical-
ly analyze the verbs in the language of drag
queens. Therefore, there is no consensus on
which verbs constitute this sociolect. Based
on what we presented in Section 2 about the
characteristics of camp talk and drag language,
we propose the following criteria for cataloging
drag language verbs:
• Verbs that name specific actions of
drag performance but may not be in the
dictionary
• Verbs that demonstrate incongruity
when used in a different context from
the conventional one
• Verbs that have different meanings from
the hegemonic dictionary definition
These criteria served as an initial attempt to de-
fine the characteristics of the verbs7 that are part
of the specific queer discourse of this communi-
ty since the linguistic features usually indicat-
ed in studies on drag queens discuss the use of
feminine grammatical gender in comparison to
hegemonically male words. Thus, by viewing
the Season 13 episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race
on Netflix, we observed the occurrence of verbs
whose dictionary meaning did not match the
meaning put into circulation in drag language.
Due to this difference, we drew our attention to
a specific field of circulation of words, expres-
sions, and propositions that, despite circulating
in other possible spaces of enunciation, gain a
7 As this is the first attempt to catalog drag lan-
guage verbs, we did not consider phrasal verbs.
specific effect of meaning when formulated in
the drag enunciative space.
In our preliminary selection, we observed that
numerous verbs fit our defined criteria. We pres-
ent the initially identified drag verbs in alphabet-
ical order: to de-drag, to deliver, to drag, to drip, to
fangirl, to gag, to give, to goof, to kiki, to kill, to live,
to read, to roast, to sashay (away), to serve, to sick, to
slay, to snap, to snatch, to start, to stir, to strike, to (un)
tuck, to work (werk). Because it is a relatively large
number of verbs, and considering that we aim to
analyze the verb in English and its subtitling into
Brazilian Portuguese, and that the subtitles can
present different translations for the same verb,
we chose in this study to carry out a qualitative
analysis of one drag language verb. Thus, we ran-
domly selected the verb to serve, whose analysis
can be consulted in Section 4.
We organized the corpus of analysis through
discursive sequences of reference (DSRs) (Cour-
tine, 2009) because the selected speech, based
on the verbs used by the contestants, is situated
in specific conditions of production. These con-
ditions are fundamental to understanding the
semantic-discursive functioning of the verbs in
both verbal and non-verbal elements.
In Table 1, we present the dsrs that constitut-
ed our parallel corpus. We organized the ta-
ble using the transcription of the English (en)
audio, selected with the help of intralingual
subtitles, and the transcription of the Brazil-
ian Portuguese (pt-br) subtitles. We analyzed
in our corpus only the subtitles that presented
translations with different effects of meaning
for the same verb. We reiterate that through-
out the season we found subtitles whose verb
translations and their effects of meaning were
repeated, and these repetitions were disregard-
ed. In the table, we highlight the verbs in bold
in both languages in order to facilitate contras-
tive analysis. Finally, we present the scene de-
scription in which the verb was used.
We cataloged the sequences as follows: dsr rep-
resents the verbal or non-verbal sequence; the

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words193Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
number corresponds to the scene in which the
verb was identified; and the letter serves to iden-
tify the material element, that is, the image (a),
the original audio in English (b), or the sub-
titles translated into Brazilian Portuguese (c).
3.3. Analysis Procedures
We carried out a contrastive analysis between
the translations of the subtitles of the scenes and
the entries of general bilingual Portuguese-En-
glish/English-Portuguese dictionaries about the
verb to serve. The dictionaries consulted in this
study were the Cambridge Dictionary (cd) and
Word Reference (wr), both freely available online.
The analyses are qualitative and were based on
discourse analysis, studies of camp talk and drag
language, and the audiovisual translation of the
show, as explained in Section 2. For purposes
of differentiation, throughout the analyses, we
wrote in italics the transcripts of the dialogues,
subtitles, and dictionary entries, as well as the se-
lected verb, in both languages. The analyses are
arranged as follows:
1. Description and analysis of entries from
both dictionaries
2. Screenshot of the scene subtitled into Bra-
zilian Portuguese made with the Windows
Snipping Tool (dsra)
3. Audio transcription in English (dsrb)
4. Subtitle in Brazilian Portuguese (dsrc)
5. Contrastive analysis of the dsrs from the en-
tries and the theoretical framework
4. Analysis and Discussion
We begin the analysis and discussion section of
this paper by presenting the entry of the select-
ed verb as it appears in the dictionaries. Accord-
ing to Nunes (2008), the examples introduced
in the dictionary are perhaps the most visible
mark of its ideology. Thus, we have the follow-
ing composition, starting with the Cambridge
Dictionary:
[cd] serve (verb)
( provide food /drink)
to provide food or drinks →servir
(Could you serve the drinks to the guests?)
(Você poderia servir as bebidas aos
convidados?)
(work)
to work for; to do your duty to → servir
(soldiers serving their country.)
(soldados servindo seu país.)
(help achieve)
to help achieve something or to be useful as some-
thing → servir/ser útil
(The old dock serves no purpose anymore.)
(A velha doca já não é útil para mais nada.)
Table 1. Uses of the Verb To Serve
Audio (en) Subtitles (pt-br) Scene Description
I’m serving bright colors,
lots of geometry.
Estou trazendo cores vivas
e muita geometria.
Rosé, in voice-off, comments on her
Moschino-inspired “lady” paper doll
look for the “Lady and the Vamp”
challenge.
And your hair is serving
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
e seu cabelo está bem estilo
De Volta ao Vale das Bonecas.
RuPaul praises Kahmora Hall’s wig.
But, bitch, I’m still serving it
like it’s leather, girl. I live for this look.
Mas funciona como se fosse couro
legítimo.
Adoro esse visual.
LaLa Ri, in voice-off, comments on
her faux leather “vamp” look for the
“Lady and the Vamp” challenge.
Kahmora is serving you dark lady
on the prowl for her meal.
Kahmora está trazendo uma mulher
sombria
à espreita de sua próxima refeição.
Kahmora Hall, in voice-off,
comments on her “vamp” look
for the “Lady and the Vamp”
challenge.
I’m serving full horse experience. Estou servindo
uma experiência equina completa.
Tina Burner, in voice-off, comments
on her runway look.

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas194Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
(spend time)
to spend a period of time doing something →
cumprir
(He served 22 years.)
(Ele cumpriu pena por 22 anos.)
We understand that the effects of meaning that
are established around the verb in the cd revolve
around the meaning stabilized by the discursive
memory concerning labor relations—serving
drinks, serving the country, being useful, as ob-
served in the four meanings of the verb to serve
(provide food/drink; work; help achieve; spend time).
In the examples, to serve puts into circulation
the effects of meaning that regulate the se-
mantic-discursive functioning of this verb, that
is, subservience to another, be it the country, the
State, or the employer. In the cd, the discursive
functioning of the verb operates as a socially
sedimented meaning that, according to so-
cial-historical-ideological coordinates, remains
stable and produces the effect of literality in
semantic-discursive relations.
Word Reference dictionary has more translation
meanings for the verb to serve. However, the se-
mantic configuration of the verb continues to re-
fer to the same relationships presented in the cd.
It allows us to affirm that there is a paraphrastic
relationship in the discursive functioning of this
verb. Therefore, it refers to the same discursive
process, linked to the effect of literality and re-
producing the effect of the dominant sense.
[wr] serve (verb)
serve [sb] (vtr) (help, work for) → (ajudar, tra-
balhar para) atender, servir
(People join the police force in order to serve
their community.)
(O gerente diz que a sua prioridade é atender
seus clientes.)
serve [sth] to [sb] (vtr) (food: give, bring) → servir
(vt)
(The waiters served roast beef and mashed
potatoes to the diners.)
(Os garçons serviram rosbife e purê de bata-
tas para os convidados.)
serve [sb] [sth] (vtr) (give, bring food to) → (servir
comida para) servir (vt)
(She served the children their food.)
(Ela serviu comida para suas crianças.)
serve [sb] (vtr) (attend to: a customer) → (ao cli-
ente) atender (vt)
(The salesperson is serving another customer
right now.)
(O vendedor está atendendo outro cliente
neste momento.)
serve [sb] (vtr) (be a servant to) → (como servo)
servir (vt)
(Alfred served Bruce Wayne loyally.)
(Alfred servia a Bruce Wayne com lealdade.)
serve [sth] (vtr) (spend time: in prison) → cumprir
(vt)
(He is serving a 10-year sentence for the
crime.)
(Ele está cumprindo uma pena de 10 anos
pelo crime.)
serve [sb] (vtr) (fulfil the needs of) → servir (vt)
(Yes, this particular screwdriver will serve me
fine.)
(Sim, esta chave de fenda em particular vai
servir bem para mim.)
serve (vi) (tennis, etc.: play first) → (tênis, etc.)
sacar (v int) servir (v int)
(Who serves next? I think I do.)
(Quem é o próximo a sacar? Acho que sou eu.)
serve (vi) (work as a waiter) → (trabalhar como
garçom) trabalhar (v int)
(He has been serving at that restaurant for
two years.)
(Ele vem trabalhando naquele restaurante há
dois anos.)
In wr, most of the meanings of to serve also re-
fer to the subservience relationship assumed in
the semantic functioning of the verb. It occurs
due to its syntactic configuration as a direct and
indirect transitive verb, which claims the pres-
ence of two complements: direct object and in-
direct object. These complements produce the
effect that to serve is to serve something to someone
(The waiters served roast beef and mashed potatoes
to the diners; She served the children their food.).
In its direct transitive syntactic functioning,
the established effects of meaning concern the

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words195Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
following: a relationship of subservience to an
entity (the country, the community); an employ-
ment relationship (the client, the boss); an ob-
ject that serves a person; or even serving while
serving time in prison. This latter, in Portuguese,
is expressed by a different verb, cumprir, which
does not put into circulation the sense of servi-
tude (to the State) that is put into circulation in
the verb in English. Thus, it is possible to affirm
that in the dictionary uses of the verb to serve,
a relationship of domination implied in its se-
mantic-discursive functioning is maintained.
Dictionary definitions formulate the verb’s sta-
bilized meaning, which is sedimented from the
examples that they put into circulation.
It is important to mention that, in wr, there
are still two functions of the verb that are syn-
tactically characterized as intransitive: sacar (in
sports: Who serves next? I think I do.) or trabalhar
(in a place: He has been serving at that restaurant
for two years.).
In RuPaul’s Drag Race, this verb represents a dis-
placement of the effect of meaning established
for the verb. As will be shown later, it leads to the
interpretation that it is about different discur-
sive formations operating in the way this verbal
element gains meaning. On dsr1a (Figure 1), we
see Rosé walking the runway and commenting
in voice-off on her outfit. The subtitle “Estou
trazendo cores vivas e muita geometria” (dsr1c)
relates to her image from two angles: on the
left, Rosé’s entire body shows yellow hair and
shoes and a colorful dress with geometric fig-
ures in yellow, blue, red, white, and black; in
the cutout on the right, the region of the drag
queen’s chest is approximated in a big close-
up, in which one can see more clearly what she
talks about in voice-off.
Figure 1. (DSR1a) RuPaul’s Drag Race (S.13 E.3 11:40). Rosé, in voice-off, comments on her Moschino-
inspired “lady” paper doll look for the “Lady and the Vamp” challenge. Available on Netflix.
( dsr1b) I’m serving bright colors, lots of geometry.
(dsr1c) Estou trazendo cores vivas / e muita geometria.
In dsr1c, the translation of the verb to serve (Es-
tou trazendo cores vivas e muita geometria) brings
as an equivalent the verb trazer in pt-br. The
image referring to it (dsr1a), in which Rosé ap-
pears walking down the catwalk, is related to
the moment when the verb is linearized (ds-
r1b). In the translation, an indirect object in
ellipsis can be resumed, that is, Rosé would
be trazendo bright colors and a lot of geometry
para a passarela do reality show (indirect object).
However, observing the verb chosen in Brazilian
Portuguese, it seems that there is a semantic-dis-
cursive insufficiency, which concerns the func-
tioning of drag language. A clue that leads to
this interpretation is that we could not use, in
English, another verb that refers trazer, such as
to bring. That is, the original utterance could
not have been said as I’m bringing bright colors,

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas196Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
lots of geometry because it would not be config-
uring the usage related to drag language.
This is an important aspect of how drag language
works. There are certain words that cannot be
replaced because, if they were, they would not
be materializing the drag effect that this language
seeks to put into circulation. It is a functioning
of grammatical cross-dressing (Parsemain, 2019)
but, for it to happen, it is necessary that the lin-
guistic elements put into circulation make ref-
erence to the queer discourse. It means that it
is not just any word that can and should be said
when thinking about the discursive functioning
of drag language. When materialized, these
words mark a strong relationship between the
axis of circulation and the axis of formulation.
This relationship seeks to record the specific
functioning of drag language, which is config-
ured as a space in which this culture can and
should be strengthened alien to social conven-
tions and logically stabilized meanings based
on the effects of disjunctive logical coercion
(Pêcheux, 2006). To employ to serve rather
than to bring aims to highlight this difference
in positions as a means of resisting the gender
oppressions that are reproduced in our social
formation. Language becomes a material ele-
ment that supports this new mode of subjectiv-
ity and social survival.
Libby (2014) points out that drag queens create
their own vocabulary. Thus, the verb trazer in pt-
br, like the verb to bring in en, does not material-
ize the effects of meaning related to drag culture.
However, the existence of a direct correspon-
dence between the word in English and Portu-
guese under the same conditions of production
is impossible. This “drag word,” which is placed
in the middle between femininity and mascu-
linity, still lacks symbolic work in Portuguese.
It means that, if a new term is not created to
refer to the meanings established by the verb to
serve in Brazilian drag language, it may be that
the incorporation of trazer or to serve, borrowed
or calqued from English, happens to account
for these effects of meaning. That is why the
translation process reveals that the margin of
the texts is illusory, as the cracks are shown
with each passage to be translated, explained,
or even silenced (Mittmann, 2008). In dsr1c,
translation can produce the effect of totality,
of direct substitution of a term in the source
language for another in the target language,
but this “substitution” does not include the to-
tality of the meanings put into circulation in
the source language. This translational totality
is of the order of the impossible because the
real of language determines the production of
meaning.
As depicted in dsr2a (Figure 2), Kahmora
Hall’s wig is smooth, static, and voluminous.
Golden, with dark and long roots, whose lace,
very well placed, becomes imperceptible. When
RuPaul praises Kahmora Hall’s wig, or rather
her hair, she is referring to a movie considered
a classic in drag culture. The comparison with
the movie also shapes the functioning of the
verb to serve. In dsr2b, when Ru says “and your
hair is serving Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” we
could also say that the hair is bringing back Beyond
the Valley of the Dolls, because the wig updates,
and brings back to the queen’s body, the movie
reference. In this sense, drag queens synthe-
size gender fluidity as they blur and parody the
male/female heteronormative binarism (Passa,
2021a). Reference to drag culture elements in
relation to the queens’ bodies and words results
in a different way of referring to their perfor-
mances. However, this reference does not only
affect their performances, but, also, it changes
the way they connect to the society in general.
The whole performance produces a unique
and singular place for themselves.
The Brazilian Portuguese subtitles provided
by Netflix (dsr2c) do not use a verb to translate
serve, which caught our attention. Instead of us-
ing the verb trazer, as in the previous case, the
expression bem estilo is used. Because the verb
is not used, there is a difference in the way the
sentence is syntactically configured. Instead of
a verbal predicate made up of a direct transitive
verb (trazer algo trazer → Beyond the Valley of
the Dolls), the translation used the linking verb

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words197Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
estar, resulting in a nominal predicate. The
hair, therefore, does not serve something: the hair
has a characteristic; it is bem estilo of the movie.
The difference in the translation has an effect
on the performativity related to the use of the
verb, since to serve is linked to how drag cul-
ture presents its particular characteristics and
shows its way of speaking and dressing. These
are incongruities marked by camp (Harvey,
2000), which produce an effect of meaning
not linked to performance, as seen in dsr2c.
This is another translation into pt-br that can-
not retrieve the elements of us drag culture
that make up how the effects of meaning are
established in relation to the verbal and visual
elements of drag performance.
A first issue to which we draw our attention,
although it is outside the scope of this work, is
the omission in the pt-br subtitling of the voc-
ative bitch, widely used in drag language. Bitch
is configured as a swear word, and, as pointed
out by Mann (2011), the use of expletives is
one of the features of drag language. LaLa Ri
is commenting on her outfit presented in the
first challenge of the season (Figure 3). Despite
the outfit not being made with genuine leath-
er, it produced, according to her, the effect that
Figure 2. (dsr2a) RuPaul’s Drag Race (S.13 E.1 51:11). RuPaul praises Kahmora Hall’s wig. Available on Netflix.
(dsr2b) And your hair is serving Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
(dsr2c) e seu cabelo está bem estilo / De Volta ao Vale das Bonecas.
Figure 3. (dsr3a) RuPaul’s Drag Race (S.13 E.2 19:05). LaLa Ri, in voice-off, comments on her faux
leather “vamp” look for the “Lady and the Vamp” challenge. Available on Netflix.
(dsr3b) But, bitch, I’m still serving it like it’s leather, girl. I live for this look.
(dsr3c) Mas funciona como se fosse couro legítimo. / Adoro esse visual.

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas198Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
it was made with this material (dsr3b). More
important than whether it is genuine leather
or pleather is how the queen presents (serves)
it on the catwalk. In dsr3c, the drag queen’s
performance presenting something not real as
if it were real is not guaranteed by the use of
the verb funciona. As happened in the previous
analysis, the subject LaLa Ri (LaLa Ri serves it as
real leather) is removed in the translation to be re-
placed by the object she is presenting: the clothing
works [funciona] as genuine leather. This displace-
ment removes the drag queen from the focus of
the sentence and transfers it to the clothes she
presents. It does not characterize the function-
ing of drag language, which places the focus
of the sentence, that is, the subject of the sen-
tence, on the drag queens themselves.
Unlike dsr1b, dsr1c, dsr5b, and dsr5c, in
which we find first-person grammatical mark-
ing both in the scene dialogue and in its trans-
lation into Brazilian Portuguese, in dsr4b and
dsr4c, this mark was replaced by the use of the
third person (she/ela). In this case, Kahmora
Hall comments on her own outfit. We highlight
that when the contestants comment on their
looks in voice-off, they are not in drag. This
is one of the main characteristics of drag per-
formance since, in most cases, drag queens do
not see themselves as women outside of drag
performance (Barrett, 2017). In dsr4, when we
observe Kahmora Hall referring to herself in
the third person, we are faced once again with
this rupture of the heteronormative patterns
provided by camp aesthetic (Newton, 1972).
Drag, defined as the art of transforming one-
self to perform femininity (Parsemain, 2019),
changes Kahmora Hall into a persona that
serves/traz her caricatured performance of the
dark woman in dsr4a (Figure 4). It is interest-
ing to observe that the verb in dsr4b makes no
specific reference to the outfit she is wearing
but actually to what she is trying to represent
through her performance: a dark woman. The
verb to serve does not refer in drag language only
to the presentation of an outfit but to an entire
aesthetic-performative experience that revolves
around this woman parody. To delineate these
different effects of meaning that can be estab-
lished from the same verb, the translation does
not manage to find equivalence, using the verb
trazer once again. The issue is that the verb to
serve not only brings (traz) something, but it also
offers something to the ones who are watching
the show, that is, it provokes a change in those
who witness this artistic performance.
In dsr5a (Figure 5), Tina Burner comments
on her outfit. The drag queen’s camp look is
Figure 4. ( dsr4a) RuPaul’s Drag Race (S.13 E.3 16:49). Kahmora Hall, in voice-off, comments on her
“vamp” look for the “Lady and the Vamp” challenge. Available on Netflix.
(dsr4b) Kahmora is serving you dark lady on the prowl for her meal.
(dsr4c) Kahmora está trazendo uma mulher sombria / à espreita de sua próxima refeição.

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words199Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
inspired by horses, visually represented by a
hat that features a horse’s head. In addition,
Tina Burner wears boots similar to the riding
boots used by equestrian athletes, flowers that
are often part of the ornaments of the obsta-
cle course in competition with horses, and she
carries in her hand a medal that represents the
animal awarded in the competition. In terms
of subtitling, when comparing dsr5b with ds-
r5c, we observe that the drag language verb
(serving) was literally translated into Brazilian
Portuguese (servindo).
We can relate this translation to the findings
of Villanueva-Jordán (2019a, 2019b) for the
translation of RuPaul’s camp talk into Lat-
in American Spanish on Netflix. According to
this author, Netflix’s literal translations of camp
talk may reflect a process of language accultura-
tion. In this case, we understand that the mean-
ings expressed by the verb serving in the us drag
language begin to enter the Brazilian language
and culture through its dictionary translation,
servindo. We note that the foreignization of the
meanings of the term occurs in subtitling, which
also dragged the word into Brazilian Portuguese
since it does not present these hegemonically
dictionary meanings either. We did not find
studies on serving as a verb of Pajubá,8 but we be-
lieve in the strength that RuPaul’s Drag Race ex-
erts on the queer community worldwide, mainly
in linguistic terms, as demonstrated by Villanue-
va-Jordán (2019a) and Barra et al. (2020). There-
fore, the Netflix Brazilian translation may be an
indicator that these new meanings expressed
by the drag language verb serving in English are
also entering Brazilian Portuguese. This process
can be facilitated due to both the morphological
and phonetic similarities of the verbs serving and
servindo.
Whether referring to trazer (dsr1 and dsr4),
funcionar (dsr3), or servir (dsr5), the drag lan-
guage verb to serve shows the semantic instabil-
ity linked to it when presenting these different
translations into Brazilian Portuguese. This
occurs precisely because it does not manage to
put the effects of meaning that it is trying to
express into a material form. These effects are
related to the shattering of the differences gen-
der marked in the effects of meaning crystal-
lized in the dictionary language. The “literal
8 We consider Pajubá as the Brazilian queer socio-
lect closest to the us drag language.
Figure 5. (dsr5a) RuPaul’s Drag Race (S.13 E.9 43:41). Tina Burner, in voice-off, comments on her
runway look. Available on Netflix.
(dsr5b) I’m serving full horse experience.
(dsr5c) Estou servindo / uma experiência equina completa.

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas200Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
translation,” servir, is seldom used in Brazilian
subtitles. It shows an attempt to configure the
verb in a verbal form closer to the drag lan-
guage used in the original language or a process
of acculturation of the term, as pointed out by
Villanueva-Jordán (2019a, 2019b).
5. Conclusions
As Leap (1995, p. xvii) points out, “there is
more to lesbian and gay communication than
coded words with special meanings, and more
to lesbian and gay linguistic research than
the compilation of dictionaries or the tracing
of single-word etymologies.” An example of
this is the verb to serve, which is regularly used
in drag language, especially throughout the sea-
sons of RuPaul’s Drag Race. For the analyses, we
did not select all the appearances of the verb
throughout the season, but we sought to pres-
ent occurrences in which we could observe
different effects of meaning established in re-
lation to the verb in its stabilized use. These
are, therefore, occurrences in which the rela-
tionship between English (source language) and
Brazilian Portuguese (target language) presents
a tension. The verb translation into pt-br does
not present a direct correspondence with the
verb in the source language in terms of effects
of meanings of drag language. This issue is
important as it refers to the semantic-discur-
sive instability characteristic of drag language.
This instability seems to have English as the
language in which this linguistic variant is pro-
duced and stabilized. On the other hand, other
languages seek to adapt terms that already exist
but do not seem to produce the same materi-
alization of the effects of meaning they do in
the original drag language. This is confirmed
when we observe, in the selected occurrences,
the wide variation of translations for the verb
to serve from en into pt-br. At this point, like
Villanueva-Jordán (2019a), we understand
that research on drag performance is import-
ant to overcome binary notions of gender both
in translation and in translation studies.
Ideologies are made of practices (Pêcheux,
2019). This means that, in drag language, we
observe a practice that materializes itself in the
necessary relationship between word and per-
formance, which is understood as a practice
of drag in a way that can be seen in line with
the epistemology of discourse analysis. Here,
the performance is understood as referring to
words serving to construct a different reality from
the hegemonic, natural reality, referring to the
logically stabilized meanings of the dominant
ideology. They are, therefore, old words but
with different (new) effects of meaning linked
to a specific enunciative scene: the enunci-
ative scene typical of drag culture. We agree
with Moura (2020) regarding the existence of a
queer discursive formation, which accounts for
what can and should be said by the discursive
position debated here. This position configures
gender relations as impossible to adhere to the
norms of sedimented language that makes up
the dominant social relations, reproducing the
relations of sexual/gender binarism. In this
sense, we present that the functioning of drag
language is constituted by the triad: drag cul-
ture, drag word, and performance.
Drag language is just one medium, albeit a fun-
damental one, that drag queens have at their
disposal in the process of creating and realizing
their collective identity and gender subversion
(Passa, 2021b). In this sense, the discussion in
this article reflected on the effects of meaning
put into circulation by drag language verbs and
their dictionary use. When we problematize
this relationship, we can conclude that, in drag
language, there is a rupture with the hegemon-
ic knowledge about masculinity and femininity,
materially producing a difference that destabiliz-
es the disjunctive logical coercion regarding gen-
der relations (Vinhas & Ernst, 2021).
Thus, we claim that the subtitling of RuPaul’s
Drag Race allows for the circulation of other
meanings unforeseen for verbs that are part of
this semantic-discursive network in Brazilian
Portuguese. This can be called “drag word,”

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words201Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
a linguistic-discursive configuration that, as in
the dragging observed in the body and perfor-
mance of drag queens, creates caricatures of
femininity by subverting the barriers imposed
by the sex/gender binarism that dominantly
regulates social relations. The drag word also
acts in the process of subversion of evident
knowledge around sexualities.
With regard to the verb to serve, it is import-
ant to note that, when verifying the impossi-
bility of a direct relationship in terms of the
effects of meanings between the drag language
and its translation, we can conclude that, in drag
language, it is only possible to serve oneself without
subservience. The verb to serve establishes un-
foreseen meanings for the dominant ideologi-
cal position, which places a circulation of other
possible meanings for the same word. The fluc-
tuation in the translation of verbs shows that
a standard form for these words has not been
established yet, and there are no crystallized
terms in Brazilian Portuguese. This may be an
indication that the drag culture in Brazil has
not found terms that are equivalent to English
or even that the Brazilian drag culture uses En-
glish terms to refer to certain specific situations
in the drag culture. In summary, like drag art,
drag language subverts hegemonic masculinity
and heteronormative sexual identity, enabling
the establishment of new unforeseen meanings
through the same old dictionary words.
References
Alter, R. (2021). “RuPaul’s Drag Race Is Serving
Face (Masks) in covid-19 Documentary Spe-
cial”. Vulture. February 17, 2021. https://
www.vulture.com/2021/02/rupauls-drag-ra-
ce-covid-19-documentary-trailer-watch.html
Barra, L., Brembilla, P., Rossato, L., & Spaziante,
L. (2020). “Lip-Sync for your life” (abroad).
The distribution, adaptation and circulation
of RuPaul’s Drag Race in Italy. view Journal of
European Television History and Culture 9(17),
119–133. http://doi.org/10.18146/view.210
Barrett, R. (1998). Markedness and style swit-
ching in performances by African American
drag queens. In C. Myers-Scotton (Ed.), Co-
des and consequences: Choosing linguistic varieties
(pp. 139–161). Oxford University Press.
Barrett, R. (2017). From drag queens to leathermen:
Language, gender, and male subcultures. Oxford
University Press.
Brennan, N., & Gudelunas, D. (2022). Post-Ru-
Paul’s Drag Race: Queer visibility, online
discourse and political change in a global di-
gital sphere. In N. Brennan, & D. Gudelunas
(Eds.), Drag in the global digital public sphere:
Queer visibility, online discourse and political chan-
ge (pp. 3–13). Routledge.
Cambridge Dictionary. (n. d.). Serve. In Cambrid-
ge dictionary. English-Portuguese. Retrieved July
29, 2022, from https://dictionary.cambridge.
org/pt/dicionario/ingles-portugues/serve
Collins, C. G. (2017). Drag race to the bottom?:
Updated notes on the aesthetic and political
economy of RuPaul’s Drag Race. tsq: Transgen-
der Studies Quarterly, 4(1), 128–134. https://
doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3711589
Courtine, J.-J. (2009). Análise do discurso político: o
discurso comunista endereçado aos cristãos. EdU-
FSCar. (First Published in 1981)
Haroche, C., Pêcheux, M., & Henry, P. (2007). A
semântica e o corte saussuriano: língua, lin-
guagem, discurso. (Trans. R. L. Baronas, &
F. C. Montanheiro). In R. L. Baronas (Org.),
Análise do discurso: apontamentos para uma histó-
ria da noção-conceito de formação discursiva. Pe-
dro & João Editores. (First published in 1971)
Harvey, K. (1998). Translating camp talk: Gay
identities and cultural transfer. The Translator,
4(2), 295–320. https://doi.org/10.1080/1355
6509.1998.10799024
Harvey, K. (2000). Describing camp talk: Lan-
guage/pragmatics/politics. Language
and Literature, 9(3), 240–260. http://doi.
org/10.1177/096394700000900303
Laurenti, R. (1984). Homosexuality and the In-
ternational Classification of Diseases. Revista
de Saúde Pública, 18(5), 346-347. https://doi.
org/10.1590/S0034-89101984000500002

Willian Henrique Cândido Moura and Luciana Iost Vinhas202Re-sentir lo queer/cuir en la traducción iberoamericana
Leap, W. (1995). Introduction. In W. Leap (Ed.),
Beyond the lavender lexicon: Authenticity, imagi-
nation and appropriation in gay and lesbian lan-
guages (pp. vii–xix). Gordon & Breach.
Leandro-Ferreira, M. C. (2003). O caráter singular
da língua no discurso. Organon, 17(35), 189–200.
https://doi.org/10.22456/2238-8915.30023
Libby, A. (2014). Dragging with an Accent: Lin-
guistic Stereotypes, Language Barriers and
Translingualism. In J. Daems (Ed.), The
Makeup of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Essays on the
Queen of Reality Shows (pp. 49–66). McFarland
& Company.
Mann, S. L. (2011). Drag Queens’ Use of Langua-
ge and the Performance of Blurred Gendered
and Racial Identities. Journal of Homossexuali-
ty, 58(6–7), 793–811. https://doi.org/10.1080
/00918369.2011.581923
Martínez Pleguezuelos, A. J. (2017). Representa-
ción y traducción del camp talk en el cine de
Almodóvar: los casos de La mala educación y
Los amantes pasajeros. Trans. Revista de Traducto-
logía, 21, 235–249. https://doi.org/10.24310/
TRANS.2017.v0i21.3655
Mittmann, S. (2008) Autoria e tradução: da dis-
persão às identificações. In S. Mittmann, E.
Grigoletto, & E. Cazarin (Orgs.), Práticas dis-
cursivas e identitárias: sujeito e língua. (pp. 80–
96). Nova Prova.
Moura, B. N. (2020). Tradução queer: pensando gê-
nero na tradução de fanfictions femslash. [Under-
graduate thesis, Federal University of Rio
Grande do Sul].
Newton, E. (1972). Mother Camp: Female Impersona-
tors in America. The University of Chicago Press.
Nunes, J. H. (2008). Uma articulação da análi-
se de discurso com a história das ideias lin-
guísticas. Letras, 18(2), 107–124. https://doi.
org/10.5902/2176148511982
Parsemain, A. L. (2019). The Pedagogy of Queer tv.
Palgrave Macmillan.
Passa, D. (2021a). «Reinas unidas jamás serán
vencidas»: Drag queens in the Iberian Spani-
sh Voice-Over of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Trans.
Revista de Traductología, (25), 349–371. https://
doi.org/10.24310/TRANS.2021.v1i25.11450
Passa, D. (2021b). “You all are sisters! We are
all family!” The construction of paren-
thood in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’. Linguaculture,
12(2), 127–144. https://doi.org/10.47743/
lincu-2021-2-0199
Pêcheux, M. (1982). Language, semantics and ideo-
logy: Stating the obvious. (Trans. H. Nagpal).
Palgrave Macmillan (First Published in 1975).
Pêcheux, M. (1994). Ler o arquivo hoje. (Trans. B.
Mariani et al.). In E. Orlandi (Org.), Gestos de
leitura: da história no discurso (pp. 55-66). Edito-
ra da unicamp (First published in 1982).
Pêcheux, M. (2006). Discurso: estrutura ou aconteci-
mento. (Trans. E. Orlandi). Pontes.
Pêcheux, M. (2019). Linguística e marxismo: for-
mações ideológicas, aparelhos ideológicos
de Estado, formações discursivas. (Trans. R.
Fonseca). In G. A. Oliveira, & L. Nogueira
(Orgs.), Encontros na análise de discurso: efeitos
de sentido entre continentes (pp. 307–325). Edito-
ra da unicamp (First published in 1976).
Petri, V. (2008) A produção de efeitos de sentidos
nas relações entre língua e sujeito: um estudo
discursivo da dicionarização do “gaúcho”. Le-
tras, 37, 227–243. https://periodicos.ufsm.br/
letras/article/view/11989
RuPaul’s drag race. (2009-). IMDb entry: https://
www.imdb.com/title/tt1353056/
RuPaul’s drag race dictionary. (n.d.). Fishy. In Drag
race wiki. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from
https://rupaulsdragrace.fandom.com/wiki/
RuPaul%27s_Drag_Race_Dictionary
Rupp, L. J., Taylor, V., & Shapiro, E. I. (2010).
Drag queens and drag kings: The difference
gender makes. Sexualities, 13(3), 275–294. ht-
tps://doi.org/10.1177/1363460709352725
Sontag, S. (2018). Notes on ‘camp’ (First published
in 1964). Penguin Books.
Stryker, S. (2006). (De)subjugated knowledges:
An introduction to transgender studies. In S.
Stryker, & S. Whittle (Eds.), The transgender
studies reader (pp. 1–17). Routledge.

“But, Bitch, I’m Still Serving It”. Subtitling a Drag Language Verb
in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New Meanings, Old Words203Mutatis Mutandis. Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción Vol. 16, N.°1, 2023, enero-junio,pp.182-203
Tavares, J. L., & Branco, S. O. (2021). Drag lan-
guage translation on RuPaul’s drag race: A
study on representation through subtitles. Re-
vista Letras Raras, 10(1), 210–235. https://doi.
org/10.35572/rlr.v1i1.1890
Tyler, C.-A. (1991). Boys will be girls: The politics
of gay drag. In D. Fuss (Ed.), Inside/Out: lesbian
theories, gay theories (pp. 32–70). Routledge.
Villanueva-Jordán, I. (2019a). Dragqueenismo y
traducción: el papel del RuPaul’s drag race en
la circulación del habla camp en español. In
J. F. Carrero Martín, B. Cerezo Merchán, J. J.
Martínez Sierra, & G. Zaragoza Ninet (Eds.),
La traducción audiovisual: aproximaciones desde
la academia y la industria (pp. 45–64). Comares.
Villanueva-Jordán, I. (2019b). “You better werk”.
Rasgos del camp talk en la subtitulación
al español de RuPaul’s Drag Race. Cadernos
de Tradução, 39(2), 156-188. https://doi.
org/10.5007/2175-7968.2019v39n3p156
Villanueva-Jordán, I. (2021). Metasíntesis de estu-
dios publicados sobre traducción audiovisual
y estudios lgbtq+ (2000-2020): dimensiones
teóricas y conceptuales. Meta, 66(3), 557–580.
https://doi.org/10.7202/1088350ar
Villanueva-Jordán, I. (2022, 25 july). Línea temporal
sobre traducción audiovisual y estudios lgbtq+. ht-
tps://trujamancia.com/linea-del-tiempo/
Villanueva-Jordán, I., & Chaume, F. (2021).
Revisión sistemática de bibliografía sobre
traducción audiovisual y estudios lgbtq+
(2000–2020): dimensiones epistemológica y
metodológica. Hikma, 20(2), 95–126. https://
doi.org/10.21071/hikma.v20i2.13301
Vinhas, L. I., & Ernst, A. G. (2021). A derrisão
no discurso político: a homossexualidade em
questão. In A. G. Ernst, & R. C. M. Pereira
(Orgs.), Linguagem: texto e discurso (pp. 73–95).
Pontes.
Word Reference. (n.d.). Serve. In WordReference.
com. English-Portuguese dictionary, Retrieved
July 29, 2022, from https://www.wordrefe-
rence.com/enpt/serve
How to cite this article: Moura, W. H. C., & Vinhas, L. I. (2023). “But, bitch, I’m still serving
it”. Subtitling a drag language verb in RuPaul’s Drag Race into Brazilian Portuguese: New mean-
ings, old words. Mutatis Mutandis, Revista Latinoamericana de Traducción, 16(1), 182-203. https://
doi.org/10.17533/udea.mut/v16n1a11