When and where did the usage of 'My bad !" start

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When we we were taught English we were told that if we made a mistake we had to say , 'I made a mistake' or 'It's my mistake' . In the 80's I heard some Japs say 'My bad' and corrected them and told them that it should be 'my mistake' and not 'my bad'.

However after a few years when the Net came along I find more and more people saying 'My bad'. It sounds funny. Like we say 'my bad dog' or 'my bad thoughts'. If you drop the last word it sounds funny. 'My Bad'....Bad what ?

So who started it? Certainly not in England I think. The Americans ? Or the Japs who sent it to America ? Hearing ' my bad' sounds like someone saying' My happy' or 'my good' ......Funny huh ? :)
 
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One time I used the expression "suck it and see" on this forum and was told that would earn me a punch in the face.

From Google:
suck it and see
phrase of suck


  1. 1.
    British informal
    used to suggest that the only way to know if something will work or be suitable is to try it.
    e.g. "for other baits, and for different waters, it is a case of suck it and see"



 
"Suck it and see" was around long ago I think. Those days it didn't mean anything off beat !:)
But humans progressed and started sucking a lot of new things and suddenly it didn't always quite mean what it should have. Could generate a 'slap' under certain circumstances ! Ouch.......! MY BAD ! " Ha....HA.... ! :D
 
"My bad!" is not English. It may be American. However, I can confidentally predict that British youngsters will start using it, if they haven't already, as they tend not to distinguish between different versions of our language family.

When I first saw it used (online) it was by someone who did not have English as a first language, so I just assumed he was making a mistake. I understood what he meant, so we were communicating, and I don't expect perfect English in this situation. Some months later, I saw Jennifer Aniston use it in a film (when driving?) so I realised that it may have become an Americanism.

The correct (British) English phrase is "Sorry, my mistake!".
 
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It's just a cute American colloquialism, and means nothing more, at least around here than a humorous: "sorry, I made a mistake." One common usage here is: "Oops, my bad" usually delivered with a smile.. I am not sure when I first saw it or heard it, but something like a decade ago seems about right. The first time I ever heard it used was by a somewhat hip friend. It arrived here pretty early too, diyA may have been the first place I saw it written.

Some pretty funny and good definitions here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=My+bad (Note in local usage here it is usually taken as an apology and some sort of remedial action is usually the result, but not always..)
 
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I read that it was a professional basketball player who came from another country to the US, to play in the NBA. He hadn't learned English very well, and whenever he made an awful playing error, he tried to express the thought "sorry teammates, that was MY mistake." Lacking a big English vocabulary, he said "my bad!" instead. Find it endearing and goofy, his teammates copied the expression. Soon it spread to other teams, other sports, and to general usage.

Anyway that's what I read.
 
I read that it was a professional basketball player who came from another country to the US, to play in the NBA. He hadn't learned English very well, and whenever he made an awful playing error, he tried to express the thought "sorry teammates, that was MY mistake." Lacking a big English vocabulary, he said "my bad!" instead. Find it endearing and goofy, his teammates copied the expression. Soon it spread to other teams, other sports, and to general usage.

Anyway that's what I read.

This chimes well with me too. I first heard it on television and I got the distinct impression that it was to do with basketball or sports in general. Then I heard it in the playground.

Around about the time of Shaquille O'Neil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaquille_O%27Neal
And Magjic Johnson:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson

I remember that when I heard of it it was long BEFORE the HIV announcement.

Geez I must've been really enthralled by Basketball back then :) because I was only a toddler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_bad

"My bad" is an American idiom that was made popular by basketball players in playground games in the 1970s and 1980s. It usually means "my fault", "my mistake", "I apologize"[1] or "mea culpa". It gained popularity with urban players of streetball and then spread into mainstream popularity.[2]

I suppose when they're dribbling or making defence they don't have time to be saying long phrases.
 
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All languages evolve and English, as the "universal" language of our time would be expected to evolve at a more rapid rate. Before you take umbrage at an American colloquialism coming into broader usage go back and spend a few hours reading Chaucer...you will realize that over time **** happens to languages...resistance is futile!
 
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