[Ads-l] Antedating of "Bad" (African-American Usage Meaning "Good" or "Formidable")

[Shapiro, Fred]

I think that the OED's entry for "bad," subsense 13, the African-American usage denoting a person who is good or formidable, could be improved upon.  Subsense 13 of the entry seems to me to have two shortcomings.  One is that it neglects the excellent citations that Jon Lighter has in his magisterial Historical Dictionary of American Slang.  The other is that the OED's first-use citation (1940) refers to "I'm a baaad boy," which was a catchphrase of the great comedian Lou Costello.  Costello was not referring to himself as good or formidable when he used that catchphrase.  So the OED's earliest legitimate citation is from 1950.

Here are the earliest citations that I know of for this African-American usage:

1877 Henry Flipper The Colored Cadet at West Point 262 (Historical Dictionary of American Slang)  A darkey would approach the young man, cautiously, feel of his buttons and clothes, and enthusiastically remark: "Bad man wid de gub'ment strops on !"

1911 Journal of American Folklore 24: 269 (Historical Dictionary of American Slang)  He can boast of his achievements as "a bad man" with his "box" [guitar].

1928 Afro American (Baltimore) 14 July 8 (ProQuest)  Ted Blackman, the "baddest" man in Mexico, is so hard-boiled, he claims he has to sleep with one eye open to watch himself.

1932 Atlanta Daily World 27 Sept. 3A (ProQuest)  The Atlanta mirth-seekers look for and single out Jimmy Mitchell and Erskine Hawkins as the "bears," and that's probably quaint terminology to you.  By the term "bears," we mean the best or "baddest," as the slanguage has it.

Fred Shapiro

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