Bad Thing
: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
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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