my bad

[victor steinbok]

Newspaper search (GNA) revealed very little. Searching for straight
"my bad" is nearly impossible because of the volume--although there is
no newspaper stories from 1979 or 1980 (I did check those two). Nor
are there any stories prior to 1987 that mention both "my bad" and
basketball. There is a cluster of 1989 and 1990 stories, but there is
also a Dallas Morning News hit from 1987. These are not helpful, as
OED has these antedated.

One hit is bothering me, although, I am sure, there is a simple explanation.

Knicks Down Sonics, 111-106, on 4th-Period Spurt; Nat'l Basketball...
$3.95 - New York Times - Nov 5, 1973
Basketball Ass'n LAST NIGHT'S GAMES NewYork II, Sosttle 100. ... "Now
my bad ," said Reed; referring to tise left one that almost ended his
career, ...


I am assuming it's bad OCR or something got corrupted along the way (a
good number of "my bad" hits were actually "my dad" or "my bed"). But
I can't make heads or tails of this one. If someone has access to the
archives, this would be something worth a quick look. It's certainly
not worth $3.95--the rates for accessing archives are still atrocious,
but I can hardly blame publishers for trying to make a quick buck in a
declining industry.

VS-)

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