# Help me parse "Breaking Bad" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109 "2013-08-25T05:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/1 "2013-08-25T05:21:05Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/2 "2013-08-25T05:30:48Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/3 "2013-08-25T05:33:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/4 "2013-08-25T05:34:53Z")
Break Bad according to urban dictionary is south west slang: > **[Urban Dictionary: Break Bad](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Break%20Bad)** > > To Break Bad is to reject social norms for one's own gain or amusement. To give up on the typical moral and social norm and go one's own path, regardless of the legality or ethics. meaning to challenge conventions, to defy authority and to skirt the edges of the law. “What, you just decided to break bad one day?” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/5 "2013-08-25T05:38:34Z")
[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. [/QUOTE] It’s more like a verbed version of the noun in “make a break for it.” ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/6 "2013-08-25T05:46:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/7 "2013-08-25T05:47:17Z")
It’s not Southwestern. The show is Southwestern, but Vince Gilligan isn’t. [Here’s his version of what it means.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9572UEEa530) > [@Vince Gilligan](#): > > I come from Virginia. It’s very much a Southern regionalism that I thought everybody knew. It means to raise hell. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/8 "2013-08-25T06:04:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/9 "2013-08-25T06:07:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/10 "2013-08-25T06:20:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/11 "2013-08-25T06:22:37Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:1, topic:667109”] “Breaking Badly” parses, but doesn’t have anything to do with meth. [/QUOTE] “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. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/12 "2013-08-25T06:33:17Z")
Anyway, forget trying to understand the title and just watch the show. From the beginning, of course. It’s good. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/13 "2013-08-25T12:04:14Z")
[This will probably help](http://getreal.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341fd10e53ef017c3333c7ae970b-320wi) (potato salad breaking bad) mmm ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/14 "2013-08-25T14:35:19Z")
Substitute going or turning for breaking. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/15 "2013-08-25T15:01:53Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/16 "2013-08-25T15:17:17Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/17 "2013-08-25T20:40:11Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > 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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/18 "2013-08-25T21:44:33Z")
From the [dictionary](http://dictionary.reference.com/)… 1. to begin suddenly or violently or **change** **abruptly** into something else: War broke over Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/19 "2013-08-25T21:51:39Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109/20 "2013-08-25T22:55:30Z")
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.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-parse-breaking-bad/667109.md?page=2)