Meaning
Slang for documentary evidence, such as screenshots, saved messages, or video, that proves what someone said or did; it is usually produced to expose a contradiction or back an accusation, and by extension to confirm that someone is genuine. Common in callout culture, celebrity gossip, and online argument, typically in phrases demanding or offering proof. The metaphor is a purchase slip as evidence of a transaction, and the usage originated in Black English before spreading mainstream. Informal slang; confrontational in callout contexts though increasingly neutral shorthand for proof. Regional use: General English online; roots in Black American English.
Origin
Dictionary.com notes that the slang appears to have originated in Black English and then spread to the mainstream, with no identifiable first user. Its most famous early moment came in Whitney Houston's December 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer: challenged over a tabloid claim about her drug spending, Houston demanded proof from the alleged dealer, and the exchange circulated widely online. E! News traces how the wording settled into the catchier show me the receipts during the late-2000s celebrity-gossip era. The term went viral in summer 2016 when Kim Kardashian posted video evidence of Taylor Swift approving a controversial lyric, which media coverage universally described as receipts, and Taylor Swift referenced the idea in her 2017 video for Look What You Made Me Do. By 2019-2020 it was routine in political commentary, sometimes positively of candidates whose claims could be verified.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- have receipts
- pull up the receipts
- show me the receipts
- the receipts
Usage Examples
- She said she had receipts for every quote in her thread, and she did.
- Before accusing anyone, screenshot the receipts so the post survives deletion.
- He claimed the meeting never happened, so she showed him the receipts.