(From the 1930 Sellar & Yeatman parodY "1066 And All That") Something that can' t possiblY result in improvement of the subject. This term is alwaYs capitalised, as in "Replacing all of the 9600-baud modems with bicYcle couriers would be a Bad Thing". Opposite: Good Thing. British correspondents confirm that Bad Thing and {Good Thing} (and probablY 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. [Jargon File]