“Bad books” means being out of favor with someone. The phrase comes from the idea of a book where someone writes the names of people they don’t like. It can imply exclusion from the owner’s favors. The term has been used since the 16th century and may have originated from literal books listing people who disapprove of those in power. It can be used as a warning or to explain social situations.
To be in someone’s “bad books” is to be out of favor with that person. It is an English phrase and understanding its meaning may depend on the culture. It’s an alliterative placement that insinuates that a person has a book in which he writes the names of people he doesn’t like. It implies that a person in the book is, therefore, barred from the access and favors of the owner of the book.
The term “bad books” was first recorded in 1509 in “The Parlyment of Deuylles”. In 1592, Robert Greene wrote about the creation of a black book on criminal activity. The book named various criminals, as he saw them, and wrote about their crimes. It is clear that the idea of good books, bad books and black books comes from a literal and physical thing that has become, over time, figurative.
Some believe that the idea of being in someone’s bad books comes from being out of their books or being out of their life. This is the idea of social exclusion. It is true that being in such a situation tends to exclude one person from the life of the other, but the emotion is about more than mere exclusion. The person who puts the other in the bad book has a grudge against others. These negative feelings may or may not spread to friends and followers of the person with the picture book.
An origin of the more aggressive idea probably derives from the idea of proscription. To proscribe means to write someone’s name. There is more than that; it implies that the person is harmful to society and should lose his position in society, his property and potentially his life. The dictator Sulla issued such a proscription list in 82 BC and so did the triumvirate of Octavian, then Augustus, Mark Antony and Lepidus. This last proscription led to the death of Cicero.
These were literally lists written on paper or parchment. A book, in ancient terms, could be both a scroll and a codex. The modern idea of a book is synonymous with a codex and this may have developed in medieval times. It is possible, therefore, to believe that the idea of being in someone’s bad books developed from literal books listing people who disapprove of those in power. Such black books probably existed during the French Revolution and possibly during the English Civil War.
The phrase is used as a statement of fact or as a warning. It is usually employed by a third party to the proscriber and the proscribed. It can be used to tell someone to keep in line or to curry favor with someone or it can be used to explain why a person is not seen in the same social situation as someone else.
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