my bad

Fri May 7 19:14:00 UTC 2010

Jon writes,

"Constant readers will observe that this isn't the first time that one of my
recollections of minute diachronic detail has proved to be mistaken."

Check yourself, my brother! Isn't any big thing. If I couldn't call
upon my memory, it almost wouldn't be *anything* that I would be
knowing. My recall of words and phrases always be correct, if can't
anybody *prove* it wrong. But wouldn't anybody be getting a chance to
prove my powers of recall weak, if I didn't be posting from memory!

Sometimes, I do be double-checking, though, prior to posting. But only
when *I* think that I may be wrong.

OTOH, doesn't be anything wrong behind retracting an assertion or a
claim, if, by chance, it does be shown that one be done posted an
error in error.

Cf., e.g. the undocumented and probably undocumentable PHATT that
still the hands of memory be weaving, a blissful dream of long ago
(sixty years).

-Wilson

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:38 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: my bad
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't have a copy of the book either, so I can't vouch for what may be in
> the main text. OED dates its Wielgus & Wolff citation to "1986."  But it
> looks as though it comes not from the _In-Your-Face Basketball Book_ (1980)
> but from a sequel.
>
> Somehow, during the discussion, the identity of which "Wielgus & Wolff" boo=
> k
> we were talking about became confused. I apologize if I aided or created th=
> e
> confusion.
>
> Constant readers will observe that this isn't the first time that one of my
> recollections of minute diachronic detail has proved to be mistaken.  I wil=
> l
> bear this in mind to avoid future, bitter humiliations.
>
> At least there *is* a 1980 W & W book about pick-up basketball with a slang
> glossary in it.  For this I am thankful.
>
> (An oversize paperback with large print and many illustrations, I hope?)
>
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 2:22 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: my bad
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> I've never seen any edition of the book; I was going on the
>> assertion that it was in the 1980 ed.
>>
>> Jesse Sheidlower
>> OED
>>
>> On Thu, May 06, 2010 at 02:19:20PM -0400, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>> > Jon,
>> >
>> > I have a copy of the 1980 edition of this book, and in a quick glance I
>> don't see "my bad" in the glossary.  Do you remember seeing it in the
>> glossary or somewhere else in the book?
>> >
>> > Fred
>> >
>> > ________________________________________
>> > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>> > Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 1:13 PM
>> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > Subject: Re: my bad
>> >
>> > Jesse,
>> >
>> > WorldCat dates Wielgus & Wolff's _In-Your-Face Basketball Book_ to 1980=
> .
>> >
>> > That's where I saw it. I didn't include "my bad" in the B's because the=
> re
>> > was only one cite and it sounded too moronicever to catch on.
>> >
>> > Never say, "too moronic."
>> >
>> > I trust all is well in the Large Apple.
>> >
>> > Jon
>> >
>> > On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 11:47 AM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > > -----------------------
>> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > > Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>> > > Subject:      Re: my bad
>> > >
>> > >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> > >
>> > > 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 f=
> ew
>> > > > 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 gra=
> d
>> > > > > school in the U.S., but it was probably in the early 90s. Or mayb=
> e
>> I
>> > > > > wasn't listening and people have been saying it for centuries.
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Paul
>> > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > > Paul Frank
>> > > > > Translator
>> > > > > German, French, Chinese > English
>> > > > > Hu=C3=A9moz - Aigle - Neuch=C4=81tel, CH
>>  > >  > > paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>> > > > >
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>> > > >
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>> > > >
>> > > > --
>> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> > > truth."
>> > > >
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>> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

--
-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.
–Mark Twain

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