Phrase MY BAD start?

‘My bad’ came into widespread popular use in the mid to late-1990s in the USA via the 1995 movie “Clueless”. This starred Alicia Silverstone and contains what seems to have been the first use of the phrase in the mainstream media. The 1994 ‘Green revision pages’ for the movie script has a scene with Alicia Silverstone’s character learning to drive:

“Cher swerves – to avoid killing a person on a bicycle. Cher: Whoops, my bad.”

hey thanks. i know its VERY POPULAR now , and i just saw it on a RERUN of “family matters” dated 1997 and suprised it was used back then.

….back then (in reference to 1997)...that wording just make me feel old! :(

well. back then was 12 years ago, and i have only heard this pretty recent as being used all the time. 12 years ago, kids weren’t even in kindergarten are NOW getting their licenses. how scary is that ??

“My bad” is pretty old slang; I’m surprised it’s still being used now. I haven’t heard it in years. I believe it originated in African-American slang; may well have been popularized by black t.v. comedies and “Clueless.”

@4tonianne – I know! My daughter is learning to drive now, but I do have a younger one. Scary. I thought the statement was funny…just reminded me that time marches on! ;)

here’s a link which seems to point to its origins in the 80s or earlier by basketball players. As I said, it’s definitely been around a long time, must be on its second go-round.

http://www.steverushin.com/wordpress/?p=116

I wonder why some slang sticks around.
Perhaps it is the perception of the word being tied to a particular era or not.

(e.g. ‘Cool’ still lives, ‘Groovy’ died.)

Speaking of corny, outdated slang, once I had to substitute a swear at work after slamming my hand, so I said, “Aw, FUDGE!” One of my co-workers overheard me, smirked and started humming the theme from Leave It to Beaver at me.

I had heard ‘my bad’ used when I was a teenager, long before Clueless, maybe about 10 years before that movie came out.

@aprilsimnel ‘Fudge’ and ‘Sugar’ have long been substitutes at my house. Now my grandkids are picking it up. Never realized it came from the Beav.

@Grisson – I don’t know if it does or not. :)

I think my co-worker was just using the Beav’s theme as a shortcut to say, “You cornball! ‘Fudge’? Who says ‘fudge’?”

I think it’s a shortened version of a Latin term used in the court system. MIA cuppa or something like that that really translates into my fault or my responsibility. Where’s all the lawyers out there. Anyway that’s where I heard the saying came from an old Latin term.