[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.