| Bad and Wrong
= B =
bag on the side
Bad Thing n.
[very common; always pronounced as if
capitalized. Orig. fr. the 1930 Sellar & Yeatman parody of British
history "1066 And All That", but well-established among
hackers in the U.S. as well.] Something that can't possibly result
in improvement of the subject. This term is always capitalized, as
in "Replacing all of the 9600-baud modems with bicycle couriers
would be a Bad Thing". Oppose Good Thing. British
correspondents confirm that Bad Thing and Good Thing (and
prob. therefore Right Thing and Wrong Thing) come from
the book referenced in the etymology, which discusses rulers who
were Good Kings but Bad Things. This has apparently created a
mainstream idiom on the British side of the pond. It is very
common among American hackers, but not in mainstream usage
here. Compare Bad and Wrong.
--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.
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