# How did "my mistake" become, "my bad"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769 "2004-08-14T00:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/1 "2004-08-14T00:07:04Z")
As a Brit I’m guessing there was a show or routine that included this mutation that was popular in the US - is this too obvious a reason? Did it evolve? The first time I heard an actor say this - maybe Jay, in ‘Strike Back’, I thought, ‘Your bad what?’ Any guesses? ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/2 "2004-08-14T00:10:51Z")
Best guess I have ever been able to formulate is that it was short for “am I bad” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/3 "2004-08-14T00:20:49Z")
I think it was a general cultural evolution sort of thing. I think it started off as black slang before being copied by everyone else (just like everything else in American culture, really). I don’t recall the phrase being associated with any particular celebrity or fictional character. It’s hard to say for sure, though, because we’ve been saying it for a lot longer than since _Jay and Silent Bob_. It’s a pretty old expression by now, although off the top of my head, I can’t really think of where else I’ve heard it used in media. I don’t think it’s short for anything, it’s associative: My fault -\> mistake -\> error = bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/4 "2004-08-14T00:31:42Z")
Search term: etymology “My Bad” From [this site](http://www.word-detective.com/121597.html): > [@](#): > > … [A]ccording to a discussion group of the American Dialect Society … [it] evidently arose in the mid-1980’s among players (primarily Black) in informal “pick-up” basketball games. … [Its] use was apparently greatly accelerated by its inclusion in the enormously popular film “Clueless.” I wouldn’t necessarily take this as a strictly authoratative source but it looks like the phrase has been around a while. -DF ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/5 "2004-08-14T00:42:25Z")
> [@Dancer\_Flight](#): > > I wouldn’t necessarily take this as a strictly authoratative source but it looks like the phrase has been around a while. > > -DF My friends and I used it when we were in the 7th grade (ca. 1976). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/6 "2004-08-14T01:11:14Z")
This has got to be one of the most often asked questions on the SDMB. FWIW, I first heard it in 1985 in Atlanta, though it appears to be older than that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/7 "2004-08-14T01:43:38Z")
I’m pretty sure I was hearing it about ten years ago, so while _Clueless_ may have made it more popular, at least some of the suburban white kids were using it by the mid-to-late 90s. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-my-mistake-become-my-bad/259769/8 "2004-08-14T02:09:19Z")
I’m moving this from Cafe Society forum to General Questions forum… you’ll have better luck, I think, in finding etymologists.