# "Epic fail", new term? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979 "2008-11-10T03:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/21 "2008-11-10T13:18:12Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > But really, 4chan (especially /b/) wouldn’t surprise me, there’s also the [Astronomical Fail](http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/7/75/Namefag.jpg) nowadays. I don’t understand the image, please explain it. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/22 "2008-11-10T13:20:04Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I don’t understand the image, please explain it. Appears to be a form of sockpuppetry fail. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/23 "2008-11-10T13:28:40Z")
I think the recent overexposure of this term may be from the famous [Sickie Woo!](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/23/sickie_woo/) incident. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/24 "2008-11-10T14:37:40Z")
[Slate article](http://www.slate.com/id/2202262/) from October about fail. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/25 "2008-11-10T14:45:05Z")
> [@properties of iron](#): > > i mean, i, alone, have seen it over 9000 times. what 9000?!? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/26 "2008-11-10T14:46:57Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I think the recent overexposure of this term may be from the famous [Sickie Woo!](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/23/sickie_woo/) incident. lol wut? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/27 "2008-11-10T15:12:30Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > [del]You’re breaking rules 1 and 2 newfag[/del] > Sorry, meme threads awaken the /b/tard lurking in all of us. > > But really, 4chan (especially /b/) wouldn’t surprise me, there’s also the [Astronomical Fail](http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/7/75/Namefag.jpg) nowadays. 1 and 2 are only about /b/, not 4chan itself. Total [fail](http://www.jonco48.com/blog/fail_20at_20failing.jpg)complete. 😃 Note to Dopers who do not know what 4chan is: Do not go to 4chan. Seriously. It’s the antithesis of the Dope and your heads will asplode. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/28 "2008-11-10T15:18:41Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > 1 and 2 are only about /b/, not 4chan itself. Total [fail](http://www.jonco48.com/blog/fail_20at_20failing.jpg)complete. 😃 > > Note to Dopers who do not know what 4chan is: Do not go to 4chan. Seriously. It’s the antithesis of the Dope and your heads will asplode. That’s only if you don’t have a 4chan diamond account: the hardest metal known to man ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/29 "2008-11-10T15:18:46Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > This possibly started with World of Warcraft. The best equipment is classified as epic or legendary, so the best fails are epic (legendaries are much more rare). That’d put the term at around 4 years old. I think thats why it has become more common in recent years but I was certainly using it before the days of WOW. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/30 "2008-11-10T15:30:23Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > That’s only if you don’t have a 4chan diamond account: the hardest metal known to man When you see it, you’ll shit bricks. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/31 "2008-11-10T15:40:11Z")
> [@Mbossa](#): > > I’ve seen that picture a few times now and I hope you’ll all forgive the slight hijack, but does anyone know when and where that original photo was taken? Presumably a train derailment that…umm…epic would have made the news somewhere. Unless the whole thing was just photoshopped. I’m curious about this as well. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/32 "2008-11-10T16:35:17Z")
I prefer the [Failroad](http://neurosybir.net/nkoan/images/failroad.jpg) (now _that_ is a picture I wanna know the story behind), even more than the [Failboat](http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/SaneMadness/Failboat.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/33 "2008-11-10T16:53:05Z")
My favorite Fail was seen on the Dope recently, with a link to this picture (but not this blog in particular): [Biblical Fail](http://wonkette.com/403920/jesus-people-pray-that-false-idol-will-save-gods-economy). ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/34 "2008-11-10T20:38:40Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I prefer the [Failroad](http://neurosybir.net/nkoan/images/failroad.jpg) (now _that_ is a picture I wanna know the story behind) A train arriving at speed into a terminal station lost its Westinghouse brake (which applies the brakes throughout the whole train), leaving only the brakes on the locomotive operable - which is worth pretty much jack with a heavy train. The train crashed through the buffers at the end of the platform, and shot across the station’s main pedestrian concourse and through the wall on the other side. One person in the street was killed. [Gare Montparnasse, Paris 1895](http://danger-ahead.railfan.net/accidents/paris_1895.html) ---
**Author:** ![Apex\_Rogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Apex\_Rogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apex_Rogers)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/35 "2008-11-10T21:46:03Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I prefer the [Failroad](http://neurosybir.net/nkoan/images/failroad.jpg) (now _that_ is a picture I wanna know the story behind), even more than the [Failboat](http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/SaneMadness/Failboat.jpg). I’m fairly certain I saw the Failboat picture (minus added text) in a Car and Driver article about lost shipments of cars. I’m not certain, but I believe the boat in question is a Hyundai-owned freighter. My memory might be off on the details as I was only casually reading the article in my optometrist’s waiting area. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/36 "2008-11-10T22:17:12Z")
[This](http://images.encyclopediadramatica.com/images/0/09/Duckroll.jpg) should explain everything. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/37 "2008-11-10T23:01:35Z")
> [@ApexRogers](#): > > I’m fairly certain I saw the Failboat picture (minus added text) in a Car and Driver article about lost shipments of cars. I’m not certain, but I believe the boat in question is a Hyundai-owned freighter. My memory might be off on the details as I was only casually reading the article in my optometrist’s waiting area. It was actually Mazda. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cougar_Ace) has an article on it. As an aside, this should shed some light on the “sinister conspiracy” as to why GM pulled the EV-1 electric car. Mazda had 4700 new autos on their hands, most of which were still in showroom condition after the accident, had people lining up to buy them, but instead scrapped and crushed every single one of them for liability reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/38 "2008-11-11T01:23:29Z")
I will now save you a trip to /b/, because you do not want to go there. It is the upper colon of the internet. It is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. If you are thinking to yourself “ah, it can’t be that bad,” don’t go there. Anyway, here it is. The Astronomical Fail (pictured above) has several memes hiding in it. First of all, it’s a Motivator poster, which means you need to evaluate the stuff in the picture carefully to figure out what the caption is about: in this case, it’s about a very big fail. The picture in the frame is a screencap of a thread at 4chan’s /b/ board. The text associated with the original post (OP) is a picture of a guy hiding in a box. He starts the thread with the half-sentence “When you see it…” which is usually finished “…you’ll shit bricks”; the last half of the sentence is routinely changed for comic effect. The OP then posts again with the last half of the sentence. No big deal, except that 4chan defaults to naming everyone “Anonymous” (green text in last two posts). The OP picked a name, and so when he responded to his own joke by delivering the (video-game themed) punchline, and then laughing at it, and then piling on with praise for the “Epic win”, it was painfully obvious to everyone that he was a sock puppet (aka “samefag”). The fifth poster is deriding him for not understanding the consequences of choosing to be a named entity (“namefag”). The sixth poster has no words, and posted a picture of Samus Aran holding her head in disbelief and despair for the depths of human stupidity. For what it’s worth, “fag” can be substituted with “guy” for no loss of meaning on 4chan’s /b/ board. In fact, most of /b/ can be deleted from 4chan with no loss of meaning. The signal-to-noise ratio on /b/ can’t even be calculated on 16-bit computers. Yes, I broke rules 1 and 2. No, I am not Anonymous. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/39 "2008-11-11T03:30:27Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > That’s only if you don’t have a 4chan diamond account: the hardest metal known **the** man Fix’d ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/40 "2008-11-11T04:06:00Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > This possibly started with World of Warcraft. The best equipment is classified as epic or legendary, so the best fails are epic (legendaries are much more rare). That’d put the term at around 4 years old. It started with EverQuest. Each class has an epic weapon, which involves an extemely long, often painfully complicated series of quests to get. EQ players coined the term AFAIK and it spread like wildfire once WoW was up and running. I know that we were saying it on EQ as far back as 2000. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979.md?page=3)