Valley Girl Vocab: As If ‘Clueless’ Didn’t Shape Sapphic Vernacular

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No one straddles the line between quips, strength, and playful defiance like Clueless’ Cher Horowitz — something queer femmes know a little something about. Cher may have been Queen B of the Valley 30 years ago, but the queer community ensures that her crown remains fixed atop her perfect, shiny blonde hair. Eat your heart out, Regina George. 

Say the word ‘Clueless,’ and yellow plaid immediately comes to mind. Yes, the fashion in the ‘90s classic is a love language all on its own. Yet the movie’s true legacy birthed the lexicon of one-liners and Valley Girlisms that remain just as strong three decades into Cher’s reign. Cher had Betties and Baldwins? We have baddies and daddies. Our favorite Valley Girl gave herself snaps, and modern queers will announce that we ‘ate that.’ It’s rare when a film’s language immediately defines a generation. Even rarer? Embedding a slate of slang into the fabric of an entire community. 

It’s no secret that on-screen queer representation wasn’t exactly the norm in ‘95. Not only did Clueless give us the loveably gay Chicagoan Christian, but the very DNA of the film — from campy sass to savage serves — is subtly queer-coded. Discerning viewers have speculated Cher’s sexuality for decades, to the tune of 79,000 likes on TikTok. But her vibe has undeniably shaped queer femmes’ tactic of wielding language as a weapon in social situations and self-expression. 

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Cher is Rollin’ With the Queens

Cher Horowitz knows who her people are, and so do the queens. Season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars celebrated the 30th anniversary of Clueless with a sass game that rivaled everyone’s favorite blonde Betty. How? By recreating “some of her most memeable quotes.” RuPaul instructed the queens to ‘Cher’ some poses while they were read for filth Horowitz-style. 

On top of rocking Cher’s iconic yellow plaid, they parroted movie moments like, “Do you prefer fashion victim or ensembly challenged” and “I’m not a prude, I’m just highly selective.” When RuPaul asked the queens to emphasize the ‘g’ in the word ‘ughhh,’ he perfectly emulated the snarky savagery of Cher’s serves.

Anyone who didn’t spend their childhood memorizing Cher’s zippy one-liners wouldn’t tell the difference between movie dialogue and the queens’ on-the-fly digs. Neither the Clueless women nor the queens are really pitting themselves against each other like later teen rom-coms (ahem, Mean Girls). Despite their biting tone, in classic queer femme style, the zingers serve a helpful purpose even if they sting. 

Really, Cher is only trying to help when she insists that Tai doesn’t know seven times seven while ascertaining her concussion status. And she’s just giving Josh some tough-love fashion advice when Cher sarcastically quips, “Oh, that’s good. You don’t want to be the last one at the coffee house without chin pubes.”

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Clueless is Way Existential to Queer Femme Culture

Queer femmes have historically used language as both a weapon and armor in a never-ending crimson wave of stereotypes and phobias. As if we need to sacrifice the glitzy aesthetics to accomplish that. Cher’s most iconic one-liners, like the aforementioned ‘As if!’, are equal parts flirty dismissals and sharp jabs. That’s the kind of verbal protection and identity-driven performance we still see in the sapphic vernacular today. 

Cher was, like, a way classic example that quickly became the standard 

 — whether she’s asking if Amber went through her laundry or telling Josh that he’d have better luck at NYU, because the women aren’t all that particular. Do any fellow flannel-lovers still have second-degree burns from her roast about Josh’s wardrobe? For anyone who doesn’t have it seared in their brains, she asks, “So, the flannel shirt deal. Is that a nod to the crispy Seattle weather, or are you just trying to stay warm in front of the refrigerator?”

With a dash of sarcasm and cadence with claws, it’s all about weaponizing humor and using language to handle social situations and self-expression. The Clueless ladies’ dialect is a fashion show of over-the-top femininity and camp power that continues to define queer femme generations. 

Even better? The Queen B, Alicia Silverstone herself, gave two enthusiastic thumbs up to the LGBTQ+ community’s adoption of Cher-isms. Silverstone shared a popular meme of her character’s cafeteria curtsy and applause with the caption, “This is how I expect to be greeted every day during Pride Month.” The Cher actress commented, “Love it!” and “Happy Pride!” 

The viral post accompanies other memes like Tai’s quote, “You’re a virgin who can’t drive!” In one case, the caption reads, “Me if the Pope says anything sideways during the month of June.” 

Other receipts include queer femmes relating to Cher’s lesbian-coded language surrounding her disinterest in boys. Reddit user Allonsydr1 quipped in an r/actuallesbians post, “In relation to [Cher’s] view on men, you literally broke down the first 33 years of my life and also … how I fell into heteronormativity … Why did you have to do me like that???”

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That was a Way Harsh Tone, Tai

Everyone loves a good hair flip, but nothing serves harder than the tone of a teenage girl reading you to hell and back. It’s not just about language in Clueless, but the delivery. 

The movie’s quotes serve solo, but the snarky tone in most of Cher’s one-liners like, “God, Elton, can’t you suck?” and “No, she’s a full-on Monet,” ensures they’ll haunt you until your dying breath (hopefully not mid-routine liposuction). Much of that vibe is infused in queer culture — particularly in sapphic spaces where women are reclaiming Cher-approved language as a form of empowerment rather than feeding into stereotypes. 

Back in the ‘90s, Cher called getting down and dirty a “boinkfest.” In queer circles today, we have “smash sesh” and “feral energy.” Cher tells her girls, “Ew, I hate muscles” (um, lesbian flag much?). Today, a queer femme might say, “Too masc, babe.” And, of course, Cher’s “way harsh” crown jewel is akin to “savage” and modern practices of dragging someone (pun mildly intended). 

Clueless Memes Will Never Go Audi Style

Clueless earned its space in the queer culture hall of fame, right alongside Britney and ‘90s denim. Between pastel plaid aesthetics, “As if!” reaction memes, social media references, and the Valley Girl cadence, modern queer women still wield the Clueless lexicon for more than just nostalgia. 

Cher gifted us a communication style that allows queer femmes to tap into their femininity with wit, self-aware humor, and a little defiance. Our plaid-wearing Queen B had “As if!” We have, “Try again.” Cher asked if Amber was ‘ensembly challenged,’ while modern femmes might just tell you a flat, “You’re giving nothing, babe.”  Precise verbiage like “slaying,” “serving, “giving,” and “mother” may change with each passing decade. But the vibes? Full Horowitz.

Sure, Amy Heckerling probably didn’t write Clueless as expressly queer. Yet the lack of representation required the community to find themselves in pop culture any way they could. As it turns out, sapphics are just as enamored with Cher’s impeccable fashion sense and sass game as they were 30 years ago. Cara Delevingne’s Cher-coded yellow plaid look is proof of that. 

Searching for a boy in high school may be as useless as searching for love in a Pauly Shore movie, but queer femmes are still totally buggin’ over Cher Horowitz’s lesbian-coded diss tracks.