The Origin of FAIL

Stella Tran — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:54:50 +0000

I’m pretty sure I came across the origin of FAIL this weekend. Yesterday I was helping a woman with her early 2000′s T-Mobile/Nokia Go-Phone, and when a mistakenly half-dialed number was attempted, “FAIL” shot back at me on the screen. Ouch. I felt it. A machine just gave me the smackdown!

Coincidentally, the NY Times printed this article over the weekend: “How Fail Went From Verb to Interjection.” It’s a nice tally on how the usage spread. Anyone else have any theories on the actual origin?

Notes from The Heart House

The Origin of FAIL