Bad hair day

This American expression was given significant prominence when it was used in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1992 when Buffy says to the one-armed vampire, “I’m fine but you’re obviously having a bad hair day.” This, however, was not the origin of the expression. Its first appearance in print was in 1988 when two American newspapers, Press Democrat in California and The Houston Chronicle used the expression, but it had been in circulation before this. Thus far, it is not known who coined this creative expression for a day when everything goes wrong. The OED attributes its origin to Susan Swartz of The Houston Chronicle even though she has since confirmed she had heard it before she used it in 1988.