On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 23:46:45 +0200, Jan Andersson
> wrote:

>Remco wrote:
>> 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
>>
>
>
>ROTFLMAO
>
>Trust a finn to educate you on an *americanism*
>
>I found that article with Google. It was a nice excercise, the history
>of words and expressions often interest me. (Etymology of words that is)
>My language is full of words we stole from other languages
>
>Jan

Trust a Finn to educate a Dutchman and Brit on American language.
I am not an American - just live here, btw.

I know what you mean about English in other language:
Years ago, the first time I returned to Holland after living here for
about 10 years, my mother asked me "are you still going to fitness?" -
"fitness" being the only English word in that sentence because my mom
and I converse in Dutch.

So I heard what she said but her using the English "fitness" with a
very Dutch sharp gutteral intonation totally threw me: "What the hell
are you talking about?? What's Fitness??"
She sighed. "Fitness!! FitNESS! FITness! FITNESS! - Dammit, it is an
English word, you ignoramus!!"
I guess "Fitness" over there means the gym now. It was "gym" in my day
-- who knew?

In my defense in years prior I had only spoken Dutch on relatively
rare occasion.
It was just weird to hear so much English in my mother's tongue after
being gone for a while..

Long story short: language changes fast.

Remco