"Not Too Bad" means good?

Posted by James Briggs May 27, 2004In reply to "Not Too Bad" means good? posted by Khan on May 27, 2004

Hi,
I have a confusion with a phrase " Not too Bad" heavily used by my peer in the office. English is his second language as mine but he says that when he uses this it mean good. I have a different opinion I think this means he is nott that bad, but still BAD????

Can anyone please let me know what exatly it means when one says " I am not too bad!"

Thanks and Regards,
Khan

to me, a native English speaker, it implies something marginally better than 'bad'; something that is 'reasonable', 'up to the job', but not much more than that - just about OK, or very slightly better.

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