Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US black) unfortunate, despicable; also as n., a pathetic person, oneself.

1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 5: It would still be a small price to pay to be rid of something [...] which had forced him to steal, not for wheels, women or money, but only as some sorry-assed symptom.
1970		J. Conaway Big Easy 125: See if you can find something besides that sorry-ass Muzak.
1972		M. Casey ‘National Guardsman’ in Obscenities 7: You sorry-assed individuals / Will be in the mud.
1986		L. Heinemann Paco’s Story (1987) 160: May the Lord have pity on your sorry-assed pecker.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 294: Whyn’t I just let the sorry ass kill himself.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 51: This sorry-ass excuse for a life.
1998		Bazarov A Rube’s Story 🌐 I kin jes’ ’magine the sorry-assed wanna-be-mother-fuckers that write this shit.
2002		S. Maloney Something Fishy (2006) 217: You’ll be meeting parole conditions for the rest of your sorry-arsed life.
2003		G. Tate Midnight Lightning 31: This sorryass state of affairs.
2007		W.D. Myers ‘society for the preservation of sorry-butt negroes’ in What They Found 138: What do you need a sorry-butt Negro like Harrison for?
2009		J. Joso Soothing Music for Stray Cats 173: He looked a right sorry arse.
2011		F. Bill ‘The Accident’ in Crimes in Southern Indiana [ebook] ‘Then I wake up [...] calling myself a sorry-ass prick’.