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

[mr_peter_morris@outlook.com]

The Welfare Worker - Volumes 34-36 - Page 8

circa 1957, usual caveats.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Welfare_Worker/nNHlAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22break+bad%22+-habit+-news+-habits&dq=%22break+bad%22+-habit+-news+-habits&printsec=frontcover

Google search indicates that this contains  the words:
...  break bad " and return to prison in spite of efforts at helping
 them to lead a better life , these words are still just words . We
know only too well that you can't make man change if he doesn't
want to do so . The old adage fits here ...

Sadly, it doesn't show in the snippet view.


=====================================

This one appears to be dated somewhere between "Summer 1963"
and "Winter 1964"

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Genesis_West/dCsHAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22breaking+bad%22+-habit+-news+-habits&dq=%22breaking+bad%22+-habit+-news+-habits&printsec=frontcover



------ Original Message ------
From "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU<mailto:fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Date 04/05/2025 16:23:05
Subject Re: Antedating of "To Break Bad" (African-American Usage)

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<mailto:fred.shapiro at yale.edu>>
Sent: Sunday, May 4, 2025 8:54 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto: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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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org