Every once in awhile a new phrase comes along that is so stupid, so annoying, and so utterly without value that you just know that it's going to infect the language like a verbal case of Mad Cow disease.
The latest example is my bad.
The phrase has been described as a cross between an apology and a dismissal; a facetious, grammatically incorrect way of acknowledging a wrongdoing.
"Hey Paris, you just puked all over the back seat of the limo!"
"Oh. My bad."
It appears to be one of the first analogous expressions in general use. An "analogous expression" would be a possessive pronoun followed by an evaluative adjective used as a noun, referring to a specific event or action.
The origins of the term are sketchy, but its first widespread appearance can be traced to the 1995 movie "Clueless" where it was uttered by Cher.
As though the rampant overuse of this term wasn't bad enough, now 'my bad' has been (whoops, here comes another one,) pimped.
It's already spawned imitation knock-offs such as R.E.M.'s 2004 song "Leaving New York" which includes the lyric, "Leaving was never my proud" and the Doonesbury cartoon strip for June 14th, 2006 which featured this line: "Okay, I'm bitter that I have to support myself! There I said it! My brave."
Please, let's get rid of this scourge now while there's still time.
My bad not good.