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super bad

CTL-W-0208 · Work · 1970s

STRONG EVIDENCE evidence grade — master store (canonical CSV)

Combined Graph record U-00610 · provenance: canonical master store (CSV), record CTL-W-0208. Master record source: CTL seed 2026-10-16 — UNVERIFIED, verify before public citation.

Language Log (Univ. of Pennsylvania linguistics, fetched in full) quoting OED: bad, slang sense 12 'As a general term of approbation: good, excellent, impressive; esp. stylish or attractive' (citations from 1897; 1955 Feather Encycl. Jazz 'Bad, adj. Good'); sense 13 'Originally in African-American usage... formidably skilled.' 'Super bad' is the intensified form (James Brown 1970 refrain per seed context); stored gloss 'excellent' supported for headword bad.

Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text

Language Log (Univ. of Pennsylvania linguistics, fetched in full) quoting OED: bad, slang sense 12 'As a general term of approbation: good, excellent, impressive; esp. stylish or attractive' (citations from 1897; 1955 Feather Encycl. Jazz 'Bad, adj. Good'); sense 13 'Originally in African-American usage... formidably skilled.' 'Super bad' is the intensified form (James Brown 1970 refrain per seed context); stored gloss 'excellent' supported for headword bad.

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Evidence note (master store)

Language Log (Univ. of Pennsylvania linguistics, fetched in full) quoting OED: bad, slang sense 12 'As a general term of approbation: good, excellent, impressive; esp. stylish or attractive' (citations from 1897; 1955 Feather Encycl. Jazz 'Bad, adj. Good'); sense 13 'Originally in African-American usage... formidably skilled.' 'Super bad' is the intensified form (James Brown 1970 refrain per seed context); stored gloss 'excellent' supported for headword bad.

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Record CTL-W-0208 · Combined Graph record U-00610 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 1 source.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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Cite as: CultureTechLens, “super bad (CTL-W-0208),” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0208/

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MLA: CultureTechLens. “super bad (CTL-W-0208).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0208/

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Where the Negro and white sections on the South Side meet, the white and Negro children sometimes play together, Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
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Spalding's base ball guide, and official league book for ... - a complete hand book of the national game of base ball .. (IA spaldingsbasebal04chic) — CultureTechLensPhoto: John H. White, U.S. EPA DOCUMERICA, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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The DuSable Black History Museum’s Harold Washington Wing, Chicago — CultureTechLensPhoto: TonyTheTiger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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