I’m hearing a lot about the series “Breaking Bad” lately, and I know (roughly) what it is about. I cannot, however, make any sense out of the name. It just doesn’t parse as English to me. “Breaking Badly” parses, but doesn’t have anything to do with meth.
What does the name mean? How can I interpret it to make sense as an English phrase?
Urban Dictionary: “Comes from the American Southwest slang phrase “to break bad,” meaning to challenge conventions, to defy authority and to skirt the edges of the law.”
Thanks, Clockwork, but do you know where it comes from? That still doesn’t make sense to me. Is it “break” as in “I was chasing the calf but it broke left just as I tried to rope it”?
I know the question sounds trivial, but it’s driving me crazy.
Break Bad according to urban dictionary is south west slang:
meaning to challenge conventions, to defy authority and to skirt the edges of the law.
“What, you just decided to break bad one day?”
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:3, topic:667109”]
Thanks, Clockwork, but do you know where it comes from? That still doesn’t make sense to me. Is it “break” as in “I was chasing the calf but it broke left just as I tried to rope it”?
I know the question sounds trivial, but it’s driving me crazy.
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It’s more like a verbed version of the noun in “make a break for it.”
The meaning of break is in the sense of veering off in a different direction suddenly, as in “breaking away,” or “breaking to the right.”
If someone suddenly goes to the bad side, they broke bad.
It’s not Southwestern. The show is Southwestern, but Vince Gilligan isn’t. Here’s his version of what it means.
It’s always seemed kind of weird to me, too. It feels forced when it comes up in dialogue in the title and I’m not sure it’s a great title.
I had no idea what it meant until Jesse said it in the show. It makes sense in context. Something along the lines of (very paraphrased) “I’m supposed to believe you’re just going to break bad at 60 years old after being a teacher all your life”
As the youtube clip showed, and Vince said in a podcast, he thought everyone in the world knew the phrase and was surprised when no one did…or so he said, but if he thought that everyone knew it, I don’t think he would have gone out of his way to say it in the pilot…I think the podcasts are all just part of the show, just a little bit of misdirection/red herrings.
And the interesting thing about that quote from the pilot is that the character is clearly using the phrase in the sense others have described here (as in “turning bad”), and not simply to raise hell as Vince Gilligan stated.
Basically, it’s turning bad (which doesn’t make literal sense either), but in a more abrupt and deliberate way.
I think the phrase characterizes the sharp left turn Walter White’s life took rather well.
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:1, topic:667109”]
“Breaking Badly” parses, but doesn’t have anything to do with meth.
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“Breaking Badly” would mean that you are not very good at breaking. “Breaking Bad” would (does) mean that you are breaking in the direction of badness.
“Breaking” in this context appears to be a synonym for “turning.”
EDIT: Geez, do other things while composing and get double-ninja’ed.
Anyway, forget trying to understand the title and just watch the show. From the beginning, of course.
It’s good.
(potato salad breaking bad)
mmm
Substitute going or turning for breaking.
I think there’s also a subtle reference to bad breaks. The idea is that the characters didn’t just decide to do the things they did - they’re also reacting to the things that happen to them. Like Walter White getting terminal cancer.
I pulled the title card up in Photoshop one day and changed it to “Baking Bread,” if that helps. (I taped the result over Mrs. B.'s bread machine.)
You need another one for the dinner table that says Breaking Bread. 
From the dictionary…
The only place I’ve ever heard the phrase is in the South. I have also heard it as “breaking shitty”- I like breaking shitty better and I have to remember to start saying that. I always forget.
I believe it originates in sports. When the trajectory of a pitched baseball or a struck billiards ball changes suddenly, it is said that it is “breaking.” Breaking what? Breaking out of its expected pattern, perhaps? Breaking the arc of movement?
So in baseball, a batter waiting for a pitch might see the ball coming toward him in a certain arc, but then it “breaks inside” or “breaks outside” or “breaks high” or “breaks low.”
So you have the trajectory of Walter White’s life. He is a responsible, meek schoolteacher, at the age of 50, working a second job to support his unexpectedly pregnant wife and a disabled son. Suddenly something changes and the arc of his life has changed, it has “broken bad.”