"My bad"

[okisteve]

Can someone tell me where this popular and useful phrase comes from? (my guess is South Park, but I don't watch it)

[Tempestuous]

It wasn't Alicia Silverstone in Clueless that made that the catch phrase it became?

[dk]

Can someone tell me where this popular and useful phrase comes from? (my guess is South Park, but I don't watch it)
Definitely not South Park, but I'm not really sure where it's from.

[Boost]

I'd be willing to bet that Temp might be right (and not because she is who she is or that she is a mod...geez I'm screwed here :D), but because I think that is the first time I really remember starting to hear that phrase used.

[okisteve]

Yep, I just Googled it and there it was just like she said. (what can't be found with Google? - amazing!)

Well, anyway I guess ya hadda been there. It sounds pretty clueless to me.

[Tempestuous]

I recalled seeing it mentioned on a VH1 I love the 90's thing or top 90's whatever.

Can you believe the 90's are already being featured on VH1 as if they were SOOOOO far away?!?!?!? Outrageous!

[Bones]

My bad

Meaning

My mistake - I'm to blame.

Origin

This slang term originated in about 1970. At that time, i.e. pre the widespread use of the Internet, slang terms often circulated at street level for many years before being adopted by anyone who felt inclined to write them down. That's clearly not the case any longer of course and any word or phrase that is widely known is dateable quite precisely via website logs.

The first citation in print is C. Wielgus and A. Wolff's, 'Back-in-your-face Guide to Pick-up Basketball', 1986:

"My bad, an expression of contrition uttered after making a bad pass or missing an opponent."

Shakespeare used the term with something like the current meaning, in his Sonnet 112:

Your love and pity doth the impression fill
Which vulgar scandal stamp'd upon my brow;
For what care I who calls me well or ill,
So you o'er-green my bad, my good allow?

That's clearly just coincidence, and it's hardly surprising that such a fragmentary phrase would appear in a large body of work like Shakespeare's. It's also a world away from pick-up basketball, which is an informal street sport where players frequently call out to each other (trash talking), and is a well-known source of street lang.

clueless'My bad' came into widespread popular use in the mid to late-1990s in the USA via the 1995 movie “Clueless”. This starred Alicia Silverstone and contains what seems to have been the first use of the phrase in the mainstream media. The 1994 'Green revision pages' for the movie script has a scene with Alicia Silverstone's character learning to drive:

"Cher swerves - to avoid killing a person on a bicycle. Cher: Whoops, my bad."

Although a street term, it is virtually synonymous with the earlier Latin phrase, 'mea culpa'. It doubtless has as little of a direct descent from this as it does from Shakespeare's Sonnet 112.

'My bad' has gained that unequivocal accolade - imitation. In REM's 2004 song 'Leaving New York' there is this verse, which as you see includes 'my proud':

You might have laughed if I told you
You might have hidden a frown
You might have succeeded in changing me
I might have been turned around
It's easier to leave than to be left behind
Leaving was never my proud
Leaving New York, never easy
I saw the light fading out

The Doonesbury cartoon strip for 14th June 2006 included this:

"Okay, I'm bitter that I have to support myself! There I said it! My brave."

See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.

Came up with this doing a Google search.

NBTP

[Boost]

Wow...the 70's???? You'd have to be old as dirt to remember that era :D

[Bones]

As posted by Boost:

Wow...the 70's???? You'd have to be old as dirt to remember that era.:D

Um, yeah.:old:

NBTP

[Muku]

Wow...the 70's???? You'd have to be old as dirt to remember that era :D


Ummm again at the risk of getting infracted here.....Kiss our collective elderly butts if you are refering to any of us :old: and :dead: folk that are posting here.:eek: :D

I hope you can read the sarcasm in that line.....I wouldnt want to be miss read by anyone or misintrepreted:rolleyes:

Seeing as how you sleep with one of the moderators here:-|:w00t:

[Boost]

As posted by Boost:



Um, yeah.:old:

NBTP

It's ok NBTP, with out ya we'd have no antiques! :D

Ok, I'll stop, just harassing ya. ;)

[Boost]

Ummm again at the risk of getting infracted here.....Kiss our collective elderly butts if you are refering to any of us :old: and :dead: folk that are posting here.:eek: :D

I hope you can read the sarcasm in that line.....I wouldnt want to be miss read by anyone or misintrepreted:rolleyes:

LoL-again I say, without ya...:D

I hope you can read the sarcasm in that line.....I wouldnt want to be miss read by anyone or misintrepreted

Naw, I can read the sarcasm without getting up in a roar about my interpretation of the meaning of your comment like others...uh-oh, wonder if I'll get harped on for that one?

Though perhaps I should type like this for you older folks. :D

[Muku]

Back on topic here....It bugs me for some reason when my daughter uses it when she is apologizing for something, whatever......it sounds like she is giving me the brush off in the manner that it is used.

[Boost]

Back on topic here....It bugs me for some reason when my daughter uses it when she is apologizing for something, whatever......it sounds like she is giving me the brush off in the manner that it is used.

I think a lot of the time it is a brush off, though sometimes it could be a genuine apology in disguise for the occurance. Perhaps actually taking fault for it.

[okisteve]

Back on topic here....It bugs me for some reason when my daughter uses it when she is apologizing for something, whatever......it sounds like she is giving me the brush off in the manner that it is used.

Exactly, but I also realize it's just an easy, no biggie, sort of expression.

All this talk about being older than dirt brings me in mind of this one: "You don't need to be old to be a dirty old man":old:

[Bones]

As posted by Muku:

Back on topic here....It bugs me for some reason when my daughter uses it when she is apologizing for something, whatever......it sounds like she is giving me the brush off in the manner that it is used.

Be that as it may, you can find some "sadistic pleasure", when your son/daughter approach you with those same problems when they approach you about how to handle their own children.:D

NBTP

[P_chan]

I think it's ok to use with your friends, but I wouldn't use it in a formal setting.

Even though my wife's parents don't understand what I'm saying, I would say "sorry" instead of "my bad". Now if I'm talking to my friends or my brothers and sisters, then I'd use it.

[okisteve]

As posted by Muku:



Be that as it may, you can find some "sadistic pleasure", when your son/daughter approach you with those same problems when they approach you about how to handle their own children.:D

NBTP

In my case, I gained some wisdom painfully, when my own kids treated me like I treated my mom. There wasn't much pleasure in that...:thumbdown:

[Muku]

As posted by Muku:



Be that as it may, you can find some "sadistic pleasure", when your son/daughter approach you with those same problems when they approach you about how to handle their own children.:D

NBTP

Believe it or not, I actually look forward to the day that my children come to me for advice about their own. I hope that I have done a good enough job raising them that they feel comfortable enough to come to me for help.

But.....I also dread the day that it happens, if you know what I mean:eek:

[DoctorP]

Wow...the 70's???? You'd have to be old as dirt to remember that era :D

I remember using that term a lot when playing basketball...used a lot when someone is fouled (unintentionally) and you didn't want the game to stop because of it. Yes...that was back in the early 80's so it is very possible that the phrase came from the '70's!

Damn I feel old now...let me lie down!