my bad

[Jesse Sheidlower]

Jon,

What's the 1980 example? I can't recall having seen a print
example that early, and if it's in the archives, I've missed
it there too....

Thanks.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 11:37:27AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> When this came up last year people had trouble finding a still earlier
> discussion in the Archives.
>
> Now I can't find last year's discussion.
>
> Except in my mailbox.
>
> "My bad" was print in 1980, reported as being a common term among mostly
> inner-city teenagers in pick-up basketball games. It took quite a few
> years to catch on in the media.
>
> I didn't come across another ex. of "my bad" until 1994-95, when it began to
> become common. If I had, I'd have made a note of it.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 10:33 AM, Paul Frank <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
> > Subject:      my bad
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > When did people start saying "my bad"? I never heard it in high school
> > in the late 70s in England and in university in the early 80s in
> > England. And I can't really remember when I first heard it in grad
> > school in the U.S., but it was probably in the early 90s. Or maybe I
> > wasn't listening and people have been saying it for centuries.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
> > Paul Frank
> > Translator
> > German, French, Chinese > English
> > Huémoz - Aigle - Neuchâtel, CH
> > paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
> >
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