Scott Porad

One of the things we sell in LOLMart are WIN and FAIL stamps.  Of course, we eat our own dogfood, so we have a Wall of Fail at our office for recording WIN and FAIL.

Basically, we operate like elementary school: when you have success around here you get a gold star WIN stamp under your name.  And, when you screw up you get sent to detention a FAIL.  It’s mainly in good humor, but thank goodness there’s a lot more WIN than FAIL on the wall!

Earlier today someone sort of dropped the ball on something…it was minor, but it really was a FAIL.  It was a total Homer Simpson moment: DOH!  So, we got the stamp out and memorialized the FAIL.

This got me to thinking: there are million ways to FAIL, but when you break it down they all fit into two categories: brain fart and fat finger.

FAIL With Your Mind

A “brain fart” is when your mind temporarily stops operating.  A mental lapse.  In grown up parlance, oh, wait, brain fart is actually a scientific term.  Yikes!

Anyhoo…if you’re human then you’ve committed a brain fart, so you know what it is.  Do not try and tell me that you’ve never had a brain fart.  And, when you look at Failblog.org there are many, many, many FAILs where you say to yourself, “what was that person thinking?!”

FAIL With Your Body

On the other hand, a “fat finger” is a physical lapse.  A time when, although your body intends to do one thing, it ends up doing another.  A fat finger is a problem of execution.

Like brain farts, when you look at Failblog.org you can see many FAILs where the protagonist simply does not land the dismount, so to speak, and FAILs.

Spirit = Mind + Body Union

Now, I’ve used the Chart Builder on GraphJam.com to map out how these types of FAIL interact with each other.  As you can see, a brain fart or a fat finger by itself is funny, sometimes even LOL funny.  But, it’s the FAILs that consist of both brain fart and fat finger where you can really LMAO.

So, ladies and gentlemen, with no further adieu, I give you FAIL: