Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 10:05:10 -0600

From: "Emerson, Jessie J" jjemerso[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INGR.COM

Subject: Re: "my bad"



Around 1990, my nephews (at the time they were 17/18) started using the

term. They didn't play basketball, but they did watch sports on T.V.,

and they listened to Rap music (this is where I think they got the term,

simply because they used many terms heard in the music). Maybe it is

not just a "court-distributed" phrase?



Jessie Emerson





Jim Crotty wrote:



In the hoops section of my recent book, How to Talk American, I talk

about its

use in street basketball. I'll bet you that white guy in the Atlanta

Airport

was a basketball player or coached basketball or had a son who played

regular

basketball. It's definitely heard quite frequently on the courts. For

example,

you drive down the court on a three and one. Rather than pass to one

of your

wide open teammates under the basket, you instead choose to shoot a

three-

pointer, which you miss. Everyone knows you made a bonehead play, but

will cut

you some slack, if in running back down court you say, "I'm sorry

guys, my

bad."