Chop

In ballroom culture, to "chop" is to eliminate a competitor from a category. When judges decide a walker's presentation does not meet the category's criteria, they chop them, and that person does not advance to the next round. The term comes from the LGBTQ+ ballroom scene built by Black and Latino queer and trans communities in New York, where houses and members compete in categories like vogue, runway, and realness. Getting chopped is part of the competitive structure of a ball. It is sharp and public, but it happens inside a community that also functions as chosen family and mutual support.