Date:  Thu, 6 Nov 1997 10:25:14 EST
From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>
Subject: "my bad"

First of all, thanks for the input. The Bob Greene column has in fact
appeared, in last Monday's Chicago Tribune. A colleague writing on a different
topic appends the note
  >p.s. We read your name quoted in Bob Greene's article on 'my bad'. I
  >think it's a good sign when linguists are quoted in the same section of
  >the paper where Cathy vaunts her neuroses, Brenda Starr gets her man, and
  >Ann Landers excretes advice.
Unfortunately, while I was waiting for the smoking gun before calling Greene
back, he put the column to press. Evidently (I haven't seen it yet, but it
will eventually be posted on the archives at http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
columns/greene/archives/97/archives.htm) his conclusion coincides with the
general consensus here: origin in pick-up basketball games, gradual incorpor-
ation from AAVE to general youth culture through other sports contexts, helped
along by that occurrence in the movie "Clueless".         --Larry