Notes on  BAD THING 

[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 DSL links 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 in the U.S. Compare {Bad and
Wrong}.

J3N Research Labs

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