# Is "my bad" a new expression? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2000, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628 "2000-09-26T17:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/21 "2000-09-28T18:02:51Z")
I think it was popularized in the move Clueless long before that. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/22 "2000-09-28T19:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Strainger \* > \*\*So, does the SDMBer who heard/used the phrase “my bad” the earliest win a prize? \*\* Yes, they do. I’ve been saying “my bad” since aught-seven. Consarnit! ---
**Author:** ![Estrella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Estrella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estrella)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/23 "2000-09-28T19:50:14Z")
The Yallopin’ Hounds, a swing-jazzy-hip hop band based in New York has a song called, “Oops, My Bad.” About a guy sleeping with his best friend’s girl. I think it’s floating around on [mp3.com](http://mp3.com) if any one is interested. I’ve been using the phrase since high school, circa 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/24 "2000-09-28T20:14:01Z")
I had originally seen it written and heard it said as “muy bad”, which is mangled spanish for very or quite bad. Keith ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bc8723/32.png) [@Dark\_Lord\_Davidson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Lord_Davidson)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/25 "2000-09-28T21:55:28Z")
I use “my bad”…but I hate myself for using it! If I bump into someone, I say “My bad!”…and they just give me a cold look and walk away. Now, why can’t I say something like “Oh, dear, my mistake! I truly am sorry for interrupting your thoughts. Would you ever find it possible to reach deep down into your heart and forgive me?” But nooooooooo…“My bad!” :wally ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/26 "2000-09-28T22:16:49Z")
“my bad” like most of the rest of slang, however old, feels new. Its can only sound decent in context when used by a young person. Or you are just out of the loop, mr blue. (sorry, I’ll go back to MPSIMS now) ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/27 "2000-09-29T00:18:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Or you are just out of the loop, mr blue. (sorry, I’ll go back to MPSIMS now) Oh, I wouldn’t deny that. Nevertheless, I don’t think ‘my bad’ is a very common expression where I grew up (rural Michigan). The first time I can remember hearing it was when I moved to Grand Rapids upon graduating from college about four years ago. So maybe it’s partially an urban thing… Don’t be sorry; stick around awhile… We have fun over here in GQ, too, but unfortunately there seems to be a lot less flirting. (Cutie! 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Donovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donovan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/28 "2000-09-29T00:31:15Z")
(going back to a tangent no one is interested any more) FWIW, if any of y’all listen to P-Funk, George Clinton uses the term ‘Da Bomb’- and this is the seventies… this is old funk slang. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/29 "2000-09-29T00:59:23Z")
Can I flirt anyway? Or is it against the rules? I’m from MI too. Its there. Along with the rest of the stupid words/sayings that make up slang. (How rural? DeWitt rural or UP rural) With communication being so fast, slang travels quickly and thus doesn’t change much. At least around Northern US. I don’t like slang. I can speak it, but it is a different language. Literally, a boyfriend of mine taught me Ebonics. We would translate chem labs for fun. “Get chu’ cuppa d’stil wadah…” ---
**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/30 "2000-09-29T02:10:54Z")
Well… Manny might kick us back to MPSIMS if it gets too far off topic, but I don’t think a little bit would hurt… Uh guys? Yeah, we’re gonna go talk over at this table here. Could one of you check some sort of slang etymology dictionary (because I don’t have one) and see what the earliest occurence of ‘my bad’ was? Thanks. ::retreating slightly from the mob with a lovely lady:: **Medea’s Child** , uh, did you ever notice how long that is? Do you go by a nickname? I don’t want to call you **Medea** or **Child** , because neither really fits… Anyway, I grew up in the Reese/Munger area, about 15 miles east of Bay City/Saginaw. About a year ago I moved back a little closer to home–Auburn (mid-way between Bay City and Midland). You from DeWitt originally then? (I noticed you said you were going to college in Pittsburgh.) Are all the girls from the Lansing area this good-looking, or is it just you? ---
**Author:** ![desdemona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@desdemona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/desdemona)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/31 "2000-09-29T03:01:58Z")
It must be kismet… My first foray into the SDMBs was in the same hour that I read an email from my cousin who used the term “my bad.” She’s a smart woman, but I thought she had made some sort of error there. Friends say I’ve been living under a rock because I’d never heard it before. My living arrangements aside, all I can think of is: My bad _what_? Please excuse my bad feet for stepping on your sixth toe? It was my bad roasted chicken with garlic and rosemary that sent everyone to the hospital with food poisoning? It was my bad judgment for starting this post in the first place? It just sounds like an unfinished sentence to me. df ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2000, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628/32 "2000-09-29T03:05:04Z")
I’m answering in MPSIMS, just to avoid tainting GQ with my drivel… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-bad-a-new-expression/34628.md?page=1)