The Green Room - Language question

Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 8:30am

Silent Knight Offline
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What's up with the expression "Epic fail"? What's the origin, and why does it seem like nearly everybody but me is using it? Why is "fail" suddenly a noun instead of a verb?

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Reply #1 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 10:21am

Dexter the Halls Offline
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This is born of internet jargon. When people were making lolcats posters and fake motivational posters, and really any photo with a caption. Fail became the tagline for failed attempts at something, and etc. etc..

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Reply #2 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 1:20pm

Silent Knight Offline
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Dexter the Halls wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 10:21am:

This is born of internet jargon.� When people were making lolcats posters and fake motivational posters, and really any photo with a caption.� Fail became the tagline for failed attempts at something, and etc. etc..�

Thank you. As I've said before, I'm easily confused by slang, and this one has been dricing me crazy.

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"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #3 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 1:49pm

The Kaylee and the Ivy Offline
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Silent Knight wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 8:30am:

What's up with the expression "Epic fail"? What's the origin, and why does it seem like nearly everybody but me is using it? Why is "fail" suddenly a noun instead of a verb?

One of the benefits of having a director that is awesome is that the stage manager and the 12-year-old lead realize when they overuse certain phrases... Grin

If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band.

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Reply #4 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 1:54pm

Swami Offline
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I've heard a few explanations for the origin of the name. These two seem to flow together, so I'm going with this story...

In Dungeons & Dragons you roll a 20-sided dice when checking your success at a particular task. If you roll above the required level, it's a success. If you roll below, it's a failure. If you roll a natural 20 on the dice, it's known as a critical success, and if you roll a natural 1, it's known as a critical failure. At some point in the history of the game, gamers started referring to crit fails as epic fails, as often the results of rolling a 1 were epic in the amount of damage you did to yourself: "You roll to hit and... EPIC FAIL! You stab yourself in the eye!"

When MMORPGS came along, specifically Everquest, the biggest quest you could take on was called an epic. If you were unable to complete this particular quest, you failed your epic. In online text-speak, players started saying, "epic fail," and adopted this to every monumental failure, not just the failure to complete your epic quest.

My personal theory is that the two influenced the other, as those who were the first Everquest junkies were also into D&D (as they were pretty-much identical), and the terms managed to merge.

Of course now it's internet slang for any mistake or failure. There's even a Twitter hash-tag, "#fail" you can use to express your contempt at someone's idiotic tweet.

"You just saved the whole of space and time... take the evening off! Maybe a bit of tomorrow."

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Reply #5 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 2:02pm

Silent Knight Offline
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The Kaylee and the Ivy wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 1:49pm:

Silent Knight wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 8:30am:

What's up with the expression "Epic fail"? What's the origin, and why does it seem like nearly everybody but me is using it? Why is "fail" suddenly a noun instead of a verb?

One of the benefits of having a director that is awesome is that the stage manager and the 12-year-old lead realize when they overuse certain phrases...� Grin

This has been on my mind since LONG before last night, and wasn't directed at either of you

http://www.maniccity.tv/

"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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Reply #6 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 2:14pm

The Kaylee and the Ivy Offline
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Silent Knight wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 2:02pm:

The Kaylee and the Ivy wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 1:49pm:

Silent Knight wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 8:30am:

What's up with the expression "Epic fail"? What's the origin, and why does it seem like nearly everybody but me is using it? Why is "fail" suddenly a noun instead of a verb?

One of the benefits of having a director that is awesome is that the stage manager and the 12-year-old lead realize when they overuse certain phrases...� Grin

This has been on my mind since LONG before last night, and wasn't directed at either of you�

Hee! I just figured that our overuse of it last night was probably what made you ask. Internet/gamer/hacker slang often makes me laugh, and I'm a little embarrassed that it finds its way into my everyday conversation as often as it does. Obviously not embarrassed enough to cut it out, but you know. Whatever. Grin

If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band.

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Reply #7 - Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 2:26pm

Silent Knight Offline
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The Kaylee and the Ivy wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 2:14pm:

Silent Knight wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 2:02pm:

The Kaylee and the Ivy wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 1:49pm:

Silent Knight wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2010 at 8:30am:

What's up with the expression "Epic fail"? What's the origin, and why does it seem like nearly everybody but me is using it? Why is "fail" suddenly a noun instead of a verb?

One of the benefits of having a director that is awesome is that the stage manager and the 12-year-old lead realize when they overuse certain phrases...� Grin

This has been on my mind since LONG before last night, and wasn't directed at either of you�

Hee! I just figured that our overuse of it last night was probably what made you ask. Internet/gamer/hacker slang often makes me laugh, and I'm a little embarrassed that it finds its way into my everyday conversation as often as it does. Obviously not embarrassed enough to cut it out, but you know. Whatever.� Grin

I only remember hearing it once last night, we doesn't really qualify as "oversue". But yes, that was kind of the thing that made me finally ask.

http://www.maniccity.tv/

"The power is not in the mask. It's in whether we chose to wear it."
-Peter Blustrinsky

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