"My bad" for "my error" or "my mistake"

Question

I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc.Your thoughts?Do you like wine? Do you live in South Florida?Visit the MIAMI WINE TASTERS group at

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
A very common current catchphrase. It will pass.

I could be just a writer very easily. I am not a writer. I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker.
Paul Schrader
KILL TROLLS: http://www.schmuckwithanunderwood.com/trolls.htm

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
Their bad.

Peter Duncanson
UK (posting from a.e.u)

Usenet · Answer

Leo Bueno typed thus:
[nq:1]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
My thought is that it was popularised by Buffy and the Scoobies.

David
==

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Leo Bueno typed thus:[/nq]
[nq:2]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
[nq:1]My thought is that it was popularised by Buffy and the Scoobies.[/nq]
I thought it was The Simpsons, but I admit I don't watch any of them.

Dena Jo
Email goes to denajo2 at the dot com variation of the Yahoo domain.

Plonk the ********:
http://www.schmuckwithanunderwood.com/trolls.html

Usenet · Answer

Dena Jo typed thus:
[nq:2]Leo Bueno typed thus: My thought is that it was popularised by Buffy and the Scoobies.[/nq]
[nq:1]I thought it was The Simpsons, but I admit I don't watch any of them.[/nq]
What a pity. Excellently well done, both Buffy and the Simpsons. When US TV is good, it's good.

David
==

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
Some posters to this board would have you believe that it is "standard informal English".
GFH

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
[nq:1]Some posters to this board would have you believe that it is "standard informal English". GFH[/nq]
I'm the only one who uses an expression something like "standard informal English," in this group, namely "informal Standard American English. "My bad" is not a standard usage, but a nonstandard one, specifically, a slang usage.
Note that I'm using "standard" here as a technical term: Although a nonstandard dialect may consistently use a given usage, that does not make that usage "standard," which is a term limited to describing matters involving the standard dialect. So if, for example, a nonstandard dialect made consistent use of "wunst" for "once," that would not make "wunst" a standard usage.
I'm also using "slang" as a technical term. It does not mean any informal usage whatever, but is limited to certain types of informal usage. "That's me" is informal, for example, but it is not slang.

The concept of "informal Standard American English" is used by other people in this group, although they may not use the exact term. They would say, for example, that contractions like "can't" are perfectly acceptable in spoken English, but often unacceptable in formal written documents. This concept goes back at least to 1927, when linguist George Philip Krapp, while defining the terms used in his book A Comprehensive Guide to Good English (New York: Rand McNally & Company) in the introductory pages, says the following under the entry for "standard":
(quote)
Manifestly standard speech is not all of one type, for a usage may be standard colloquial, like He isn't, or standard literary, as in those constructions peculiar to the style of writing in prose and verse.

(end quote)
I've argued that Krapp recognized the concept as far back as 1909:

See
umsgid=(Email Removed)&lr=&hl=en

or
http://tinyurl.com/5ckey

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?[/nq]
[nq:1]A very common current catchphrase. It will pass.[/nq]
I'd hedge my bets on that one; not sure.

Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 22 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]On 17 Sep 2004, MC wrote[/nq]
[nq:2]A very common current catchphrase. It will pass.[/nq]
[nq:1]I'd hedge my bets on that one; not sure.[/nq]
I like it. Short, sharp and snappy (along with impeccable pop culture references).
wn

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have recently heard some folk say "my bad" when meaning "my error", "my fault", etc. Your thoughts?

Do you like wine? Do you live in South Florida? Visit the MIAMI WINE TASTERS group at

[/nq]
I'd say that if it passes, fine. But if it stays with us, and its use is accepted by the public as well as the media (isn't that how new words are chosen for dictionary entry?) then the definition, "mistake, as in,'sorry, my bad'" will find its way in.
JOE

"My bad" for "my error" or "my mistake"

Do you like wine? Do you live in South Florida?
Visit the MIAMI WINE TASTERS group at

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Do you like wine? Do you live in South Florida? Visit the MIAMI WINE TASTERS group at

Related Questions