Once in a while, a certain "saying" will totally irk me, for personal reasons.
The saying that I would like to discuss in this entry is:
"my bad"
Not only is this horrendous grammar, it bothers me because it's not a sincere apology or admission of making a mistake. It's almost in the category of:
"you know I'm sorry"
OR
"you know I love you"
No, actually, I didn't know that.
By removing anything emotional or personal, and using these statements, it's almost like saying "don't be silly, you should know these things although I never say them."
Anyhooo back to the original statement.
"My bad" is a ghetto way of saying that you made a mistake. It's ebonics, but worse. There is a time and place to joke around - for example - with my friends I will joke around and say stupid things like "word", "peace out", etc.
However, when I am in a serious setting (meeting, interview,etc) I don't use this slang. Most others don't either, but the term 'my bad' has managed to pass the barriers of social appropriateness. I can be in a serious meeting and one individual will accuse another person of something -once they realize they are in the wrong, they default to this retarded saying.
I just don't get it. Say you're sorry, or that you made a mistake. Plain and simple. People will respect it more.
Another term that seemed to popularize over the years is "not".
I'm so pretty. NOT.
I believe that Saturday Night Live started this one. So crazy. So grammatically incorrect.
Some accuse me of over-analyzing everything. In this case, I have.
My bad.
1 comment:
Actually, "My bad" is a great word for sports. I play soccer, and the worst thing a player can do is appologize for a mis-kick by saying "Oh! Sorry!" Well, it's just annoying. "Sorry" is completely out of place. The player should be just focusing on themeselves and improving in this instance, not on what the rest of the team thinks. "My bad" okay, time to move on.
Grammatically incorrect phrases occurs everywhere, expecially in slang. While I have nothing wrong with hearing "my bad" on a soccer field, I might cringe if I read it in a book (unless in dialogue--consider characters here as well).
I think you have a poin here, but I'll be the first to say I'm not particularly irked by this particular usage.
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