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My bad

Posted by R.dafremen on August 27, 2009 at 15:06

Has anyone brought up the possibility of the expression "my bad" originating with the game of spades, often played by inmates who also played basketball? When playing spades, a player is expected to bid as accurately as possible so that he and his partners don't accrue "sandbags" which eventually (upon receiving 10 of them) result in a penalty of 100 points. When we would play, back in the mid-80s, if you underbid your hand and got your team a "sandbag" or "bag" a common way of acknowledging that the mistake was yours was to say to your partner.."my bag"..an apology of sorts. It's quite possible that this was later misinterpreted as "my bad" and on the b-ball court as an acknowledgment of having messed up.

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