[Ads-l] Antedating of "To Break Bad" (African-American Usage)

[Shapiro, Fred]

Far more information about "breaking bad" was contained in a posting by the great Bonnie Taylor-Blake.  I have forwarded Bonnie's spectacular posting to the editors of the Oxford Dictionary of African American English.

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 8:54 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "To Break Bad" (African-American Usage)

to break bad (OED, P.2.b., 1965)

1963 Afro-American (Baltimore) 7 Dec. 9 (ProQuest)

When I looked at television and saw the shooting [of Lee Harvey Oswald ... I said to myslef, this is worse than a Wild West movie.  They certainly "break bad" down in Texas.

Fred Shapiro

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