Here’s another recent phrase (and by recent, I mean that I’ve only heard it in use for the past couple of years, mostly by college students).
It seems to have different meanings. A union organizer I know uses it when referring to gathering information. Whether said info is helpful or alarming, she says “it’s all good” because it’s all useful.
And then, in the movie Frequency (2000), a young man is asked how he wants his coffee. He replies, “Well, you know, it’s all good.” (Apparently implying that he’ll take it any way it is served.)
Comments?
I’m not sure. It might refer to an old saw about pussy that says, “It’s all good, but some is better than others.” I recently saw the phrase on a bumper sticker for Indiana’s chapter of NORML, and I thought there must be another source.
–Nott
Origin: Afro-American, inner city.
Use: Complimentary on a narrow, yet wide scale.
Meaning: Everything is good; it’s just fine, cool, or, from the Great Richard Pryor ‘there aint no such thing as bad pussy.’
Pronunciation: ‘Itz awl guuuud.’
I think it’s at least 6 or 7 years old. I seem to recall using it as early as 1993 or 1994 in Chicago. I could be mistaken, but I definitely was using it by '95. I have a feeling it’s much older than that, though…
I’ve always used it in the sense Cue mentioned.
M.C. Hammer had a hit “It’s All Good” in 1994 from his album Funky Headhunter. Although the phrase was almost certainly in use before that, his single helped make it popular.
I never heard the expression until last summer. My niece’s fiance and his friends used it to mean that any new experience, even a bad one, is worth having.
I first heard the term around 5 or 6 years ago and around here (Vancouver BC)it originated in the Rave scene. It originated because everyone at the rave was high on exstacy and that made you feel like “it’s all good”. ie everything made you happy!
I’d like to second Cue017’s definition and pronounciation as the authoritative ones, with the added caveat that 1) anyone who’s just getting hep to this ancient slang needs to get out more, and 2) do not try to impress your African-American acquaintances by dropping it in your speech. You will get stared at. Might as well try telling them something is “fly – it’s def, yo, it’s off the hook, word!”
Also, JeffB, if memory serves – Stanley Burrell (Hammer) was spiralling down wildly in popularity when he co-opted “It’s All Good,” for his album. If anything, have a lame like Hammer using it killed the catchphrase just as it was gaining street credibility – in fact, I distinctly remember a music reviewer for either VIBE or THE SOURCE slamming Hammer’s album and bitterly complaining about the same thing. Explains why it’s used so sparingly, and popping up in Vancouver rave scenes.
Ok people, give credit where due.
Eric Burdon originated the phrase with War on “Spill the Wine”.
I just Googled the lyrics. Didn’t see the phrase.
IMO It’s the latest in a long line of weasle words.
Just answer all questions with it.
Q: did you do your chores
A: it’s all good
Later when confronted with reality, don’t argue the chores, argue about what was mean by each word spoken and close with “My bad” as it shuts up the accuser without accepting guilt or responsibility.
I googled it and see someone claiming it originated with Billy Holiday in 1946, but others are saying it was in use before then.
I’m quite sure the phrase originated back in the day when a busy waitress got tired of some indecisive schmuck asking what was good on the menu.
The German phrase alles gut predates the English version by a whole lot of years.
And that is a take off from Animal Farm, 1945, “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”
Dennis
The same is true in Portuguese. “Tudo bem?” is a common greeting that translates to “all is good.”
I think I first heard it in the mid-1990s, usually drawled by good ol’ boys, meaning “No big deal, don’t worry about it.”