# Will the terms "Fail"/"Epic Fail" survive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564 "2010-11-13T16:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/21 "2010-11-14T15:19:41Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > I hear people say it in speech, but it usually marks them as a nerd even nerdier than myself. It’s like people who say, “I can has \_\_\_\_\_?” or use the fake-swears from Battlestar Galactica or whatever it is that guy from Big Bang Theory says. Bazinga or something. > > It will fade away soon enough. All the annoying stuff will. And then there will be new annoying stuff. What really grates on me is when normal people use it. I don`t mind actual nerds talk with nerdy catchphrases but I won’t stand for nerdy catchphrases entering normal language. Actually fail doesn’t bother me as much as ‘epic’ and ‘legendary’. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/22 "2010-11-14T19:27:02Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve never heard or read this idiom before. How is it used & what does it mean? It’s a shortened version of the word “totally.” As in, “I totes love that new dress you just bought.” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/23 "2010-11-14T19:29:44Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > It’s a shortened version of the word “totally.” As in, “I totes love that new dress you just bought.” Totes m’goats! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/24 "2010-11-14T21:30:31Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > It’s being used as a noun now. That’s what’s new. Given the increasingly frequent nouning of verbs, I don’t think “fail” or “epic fail” will ever disappear. We commonly hear now of “a big ask”, and I’ve seen “suggest” used for “suggestion”. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/25 "2010-11-15T04:49:16Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > the increasingly frequent nouning of verbs It goes the other way too, as you just demonstrated. Maybe in some version of Future English, there won’t be separate “nouns” or “verbs”, just words that can function as either depending on the context. ---
**Author:** ![dzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzero)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/26 "2010-11-15T23:46:55Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > It’s a shortened version of the word “totally.” As in, “I totes love that new dress you just bought.” 30 Rock did a great parody of this trend on the latest episode (where Liz gets the great jeans and Baldwin’s character backs some crazy libertarian candidate for Congress). > [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > It goes the other way too, as you just demonstrated. Maybe in some version of Future English, there won’t be separate “nouns” or “verbs”, just words that can function as either depending on the context. We may as well go back to just grunting and become the next trendsetters. edit - oh, and those terms sound stupid. I’ve never liked them - which proves conclusively that they won’t last. Personally I’m trying to bring back ‘groovy’, so I have no patience for most neo-logisms. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/27 "2010-11-15T23:53:39Z")
I’m with you, **dzero**. Groovy needs to come back. And yes, I do base most of my decisions on what Marcia Brady would do/say. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/28 "2010-11-15T23:58:09Z")
Sometimes when I’m looking at people failing miserably, I imagine them with the FAIL stamp over them, and laugh. I was walking past this group of guys at work, one of whom is just plain awful. He is bad at **everything** and everyone knows it. I saw him standing around and pictured him with a FAIL over his face, which cracked me so thoroughly up. As for this “totes” shit, god help me if I ever use it. ---
**Author:** ![Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/13edae/32.png) [@Interconnected\_Series\_of\_Tubes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interconnected_Series_of_Tubes)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/29 "2010-11-16T00:48:17Z")
Fail; yes. Amazingly versatile, like most good slang can be used seamlessly in a conversation or as a stand-alone interjection with plenty of opportunities for use. Epic fail is a little too juvenile and I think will fade as its creating generation ages. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564/30 "2010-11-16T00:53:14Z")
Why wouldn’t they survive? They’re perfectly cromulent terms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-terms-fail-epic-fail-survive/560564.md?page=1)