New movie

[Wilson Gray]

Seriously, folks, to coin a phrase, I'm just messing with you. ;-) I
really think that we've gone as far as we can seriously go with the
basic non-distinction in meaning or even emotional weight between
"break nasty" and "break bad." My sole intuition is that I
_whimsically_ prefer "break nasty" to "break bad," which has always
simply struck me as clumsier and less hip. And yes, I've heard both in
the wild, with "break nasty" being the older version - a fact to which
I attach no weight - in my experience.

In fact, I probably owe Jon and the listserv an apology for having
made it appear that I've ever truly given a damn about the
non-distinction between the two. Not everyone has the same sense of
humor, I guess, as poor Don Imus found out.

-Wilson

On Jan 19, 2008 10:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: New movie
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson, HDAS has "break bad" from 1972 with the definition, "[of persons] to become aggressive or angry." (After fifteen years, this def. now seems a bit bland to me. Maybe it needs an adverb like "extremely" and the addition of "unruly, disorderly, etc.")  Correct me if I'm wrong.
>
>   To "break" can also mean "(of circumstances) to go or become," thus "break bad" can also mean "to go wrong, become difficult, dangerous, etc."  But that would be less usual, I think.
>
>   "Break nasty" seems to partake of both nuances. You'll be amazed when I say I 've never encountered it before.
>
>   JL
>
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: New movie
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jon, have you noticed the ads for the new movie titled, "Breaking
> Bad"? My intuition is that the desire for alliteration dissuaded the
> producers from the use of the cooler and the goner, "Breaking Nasty."
> ;-)
>
> -Wilson
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> -Sam'l Clemens
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org