secondary air system

I'd go to the rec.autos.makers.vw.watercooled group This is the aircooled group (old bugs, buses, ghias, etc)

Remco

thanks, my bad. I thought that was where I was.

Not a problem. Get a bug and come back anytime :)

I'm having a blonde moment. (several years ! )

"my bad"

I've seen this a few times - whatsit mean ?

Rich

my bad/it's my bad - "it's my fault/mistake", an acknowledgement of blame - this is from US college/university campus 1980's slang, in which 'bad' means mistake or fault (that caused a bad thing), hence 'it's my bad', or more succinctly, 'my bad'. It's simply a shortening of 'The bad thing that happened was my fault, sorry'. The word bad in this case has evolved to mean 'mistake which caused a problem'. It's another example of the tendency for language to become abbreviated for more efficient (and stylised) communications. In this case the abbreviation is also a sort of teenage code, which of course young people everywhere use because they generally do not wish to adopt lifestyle and behaviour advocated by parents, teachers, authority, etc., and so develop their own style and behaviour, including language. For new meanings of words to evolve there needs to be a user-base of people that understands the new meanings. Initially the 'my bad' expression was confined to a discrete grouping, ie., US students, and the meaning wasn't understood outside of that group. Now it seems the understanding and usage of the 'my bad' expression has grown, along with the students, and entered the mainstream corporate world, no doubt because US middle management and boardrooms now have a high presence of people who were teenagers at college or university 20 years ago. I am also informed (ack K Korkodilos) that the 'my bad' expression was used in the TV series 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', and that this seems to have increased its popular mainstream usage during the 1990's, moreover people using the expression admitted to watching the show when asked about the possible connection.

Gag me with a spoon! Like, you are so totally out of it, Rich - fur sure! :) I just showed the planet that I am too, using valley girl speak.

I also didn't know Jan was some sort of linguistic anthropologist. (though he was IT and fixed bugs. My bad :)

ROTFLMAO

Trust a finn to educate you on an *americanism* ;)

I found that article with Google. It was a nice excercise, the history of words and expressions often interest me. (Etymology of words that is) My language is full of words we stole from other languages :)

Jan

I read half way down before I guessed you googled it !

as for 'bad' I understood its use but was trying to work out b . a . d . as an acronym.

I didnt watch much buffy, liked it, just didnt seem to be around when it was on.

Rich

Trust a Finn to educate a Dutchman and Brit on American language. :) I am not an American - just live here, btw.

I know what you mean about English in other language: Years ago, the first time I returned to Holland after living here for about 10 years, my mother asked me "are you still going to fitness?" - "fitness" being the only English word in that sentence because my mom and I converse in Dutch.

So I heard what she said but her using the English "fitness" with a very Dutch sharp gutteral intonation totally threw me: "What the hell are you talking about?? What's Fitness??" She sighed. "Fitness!! FitNESS! FITness! FITNESS! - Dammit, it is an English word, you ignoramus!!" I guess "Fitness" over there means the gym now. It was "gym" in my day

-- who knew?

In my defense in years prior I had only spoken Dutch on relatively rare occasion. It was just weird to hear so much English in my mother's tongue after being gone for a while..

Long story short: language changes fast.

Remco

Bad as death?

as in my .... B eing A Dumbass???? Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply

MUADIB®

The Peacemaking Meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

English is my second language. My first is Vulgarian.

The missus and I were looking to go to Vulgaristan on vacation next year so just want to know how to do the basics (order food, hail a cab, ask for directions, ask how much something is, etc). Living only less than 1 hr away from New York City, we do get to practice, but I understand the language there is only a distant dialect.

We're not looking to become experts on the language, but was "bite me" hello or goodbye? I always get the two confused and Barnes and Noble is clean out of vulgarian dictionaries. :)

Remco

English Vulgarian

Allow me to introduce my wife heredaho (sometimes herdaho) May I have a glass of water? gimmieabud goodbye donleditslamonyerass good buy fafingerjob hello yaintdedyet? bored and stroked nuttinhapnin n hafded swap engines tossdatin

ROTFLMAO! That's funny - Thanks!