Why is everyone saying "fail" all of a sudden?

[nickb]

http://slate.com/id/2202262

[river_styx]

It surely must be a sign of the apocalypse when we start seeing coverage of 4chan memes in mainstream media.

[biohacker42 → river_styx]

How bad is it when we're seeing coverage of mainstream media's coverage of internet memes, on the internet.

[olefoo → river_styx]

We will know the tubocalypse has truly arrived when someone suggests that "Congress should work like Digg"; and they get play in the mainstream media.

[jhancock → olefoo]

Congress already works like Digg; except you acquire karma points by lining someone's pocket ;)

[unalone → river_styx]

Nah. It's pretty awesome: we're seeing, day by day, the birth of the new media.

[MaysonL → river_styx]

It is interesting that everyone here considers Slate a mainstream medium...

[marvin → river_styx]

It's worse than this, my regional newspaper actually covered /b/ itself - "the place where the Internet throws up at 4 in the morning".

[markbao → marvin]

Wow, talk about rules 1 and 2.

[dfranke]

I'm not sure how "lose" got replaced with "fail", but hackers have been using "win" in the same sense since long before 4chan came along. Also, using a designated but unusual superlative -- "epic fail" -- is a common hacker speech pattern, as with "die horribly" or "grok in fullness".

[swombat]

Entertaining article on the fail meme.

I sometimes wonder how "normal" people perceive this mass of variously geeky people on the net who practically speak a different language by now. I sometimes wonder how my parents would react if I sent them an email declaring that "I pwn3d some n00bs".

[hugh → swombat]

Probably the same way that their reacted when they told them that mellowing out was groovy. Or the way _their_ parents reacted when they told them that the hep cats were jumpin'. Or the way _their_ parents reacted when told that some bird was the bee's knees.

Shrugging and invisibly rolling one's eyes seems like appropriate.

[smanek → hugh]

way that their reacted

Noun fail!

[mhartl]

Everyone said "FAIL" about three months ago. Get with the times, dude!

[jmilton]

Because everyone loves Schadenfreude.

[louislouis]

..because success just doesn't taste as sweet without it.

[aswanson]

Beause it's epic.

[radley]

FAIL

(writer overlooks "FTW" as meme partner...)

[morphle2]

SUCCES!

[time_management]

That article was over 9000. 4chan slang got 10/15'd.

[markbao → time_management]

You're doing it wrong.

;)

[time_management → markbao]

I'm sooooo confused!

[qqq]

fail

[whacked_new]

Answer to question FAIL.