Jan Andersson wrote:
> tricky wrote:
> > I'm having a blonde moment. (several years ! )
> >
> > "my bad"
> >
> > I've seen this a few times - whatsit mean ?
> >
> > Rich
>
>
>
>
> my bad/it's my bad - "it's my fault/mistake", an acknowledgement of
> blame - this is from US college/university campus 1980's slang, in which
> 'bad' means mistake or fault (that caused a bad thing), hence 'it's my
> bad', or more succinctly, 'my bad'. It's simply a shortening of 'The bad
> thing that happened was my fault, sorry'. The word bad in this case has
> evolved to mean 'mistake which caused a problem'. It's another example
> of the tendency for language to become abbreviated for more efficient
> (and stylised) communications. In this case the abbreviation is also a
> sort of teenage code, which of course young people everywhere use
> because they generally do not wish to adopt lifestyle and behaviour
> advocated by parents, teachers, authority, etc., and so develop their
> own style and behaviour, including language. For new meanings of words
> to evolve there needs to be a user-base of people that understands the
> new meanings. Initially the 'my bad' expression was confined to a
> discrete grouping, ie., US students, and the meaning wasn't understood
> outside of that group. Now it seems the understanding and usage of the
> 'my bad' expression has grown, along with the students, and entered the
> mainstream corporate world, no doubt because US middle management and
> boardrooms now have a high presence of people who were teenagers at
> college or university 20 years ago. I am also informed (ack K
> Korkodilos) that the 'my bad' expression was used in the TV series
> 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', and that this seems to have increased its
> popular mainstream usage during the 1990's, moreover people using the
> expression admitted to watching the show when asked about the possible
> connection.

Gag me with a spoon! Like, you are so totally out of it, Rich - fur
sure!
I just showed the planet that I am too, using valley girl speak.

I also didn't know Jan was some sort of linguistic anthropologist.
(though he was IT and fixed bugs. My bad