# "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:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/61 "2008-11-12T04:16:12Z")
\>deleted\< ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/62 "2008-11-12T04:17:29Z")
I’m honestly surprised that so many Dopers are /b/tards too. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/63 "2008-11-12T06:33:59Z")
I won’t dispute its popularity (it had to have been at least somewhat popular, to make to US networks) or the appeal (that being a matter of opinion). I was just asking about the budget. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/64 "2008-11-12T07:04:17Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > I’m honestly surprised that so many Dopers are /b/tards too. I’ll hazard a guess that most Doper/b/tards are somewhat like me - I go there looking for humorous images to add to my slideshow screen-saver. I avoid the gore threads and racist shit, and only post once in a great while - usually when I’m drunk. I leave the REAL /b/tardation to the 12-year-olds. Turnover on /b is so fast - by the time you start a thread, it’s almost off the first page already - that, despite the high volume of completely worthless posts, there’s always something new. Joe ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/65 "2008-11-12T07:24:18Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I don’t understand the image, please explain it. It’s a Metal Gear Solid reference. See [here.](http://www.electricpig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/snake-in-the-box.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/66 "2008-11-12T07:54:54Z")
> [@chocolatefrog](#): > > It’s a Metal Gear Solid reference. See [here.](http://www.electricpig.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/snake-in-the-box.jpg) [Further explanation.](http://mgsbox.ytmnd.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/67 "2008-11-12T07:59:59Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > For what it’s worth, I believe it’s an old Dungeons & Dragons game term. From there it probably migrated to computer lingo and then into the general populace. That’s where I remember it from, meaning the failure to do the action could not be any worse, and the worst possible scenario was about to result. Sort of like trying to chop at a critter with your axe, and taking off your leg instead, with bleeding to death being the result, and the creature eats your party members? (So, a failure of epic proportions.) ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/68 "2008-11-12T14:59:15Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > That’s where I remember it from, meaning the failure to do the action could not be any worse, and the worst possible scenario was about to result. Sort of like trying to chop at a critter with your axe, and taking off your leg instead, with bleeding to death being the result, and the creature eats your party members? (So, a failure of epic proportions.) I don’t remember that ever being called an “epic fail,” though; it was just a “critical failure.” Of course, my D&D days were many years ago. RR ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/69 "2008-11-12T20:36:01Z")
> [@RiverRunner](#): > > I don’t remember that ever being called an “epic fail,” though; it was just a “critical failure.” Of course, my D&D days were many years ago. > RR As were mine. 😉 Late eighties/early ninties being my fondest remembered. I can recall gamer friends using the term “epic fail” or “Now that’s a failure of Epic Proportions!” and “No one Fails like \< name \> does!” to tease a person who’d just rolled a critical fail. It wasn’t in the books, it was a gamer slang term. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979/70 "2008-11-12T20:49:22Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > … had\*\* I just not noticed it before\*\*? … Epic fail. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/epic-fail-new-term/471979.md?page=3)