failson

English

Etymology

Compound of fail +‎ son.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

failson (plural failsons)

1. (Internet slang, derogatory) An incompetent, unsuccessful middle-class or upper-class man who is protected from economic duress by his family's wealth or influence.

   Coordinate term: faildaughter

   • 2012 November 20, Haoma, “Failson Hangout”, in The Something Awful Forums / FYAD‎^[1]:

     This is the thread for Failsons. We are disappointments to our families, burdens on societies, and NOT jealous of our older sibling's nice houses and luxury automobiles.

   • 2016 November 18, Jia Tolentino, “What Will Become of the Dirtbag Left?”, in The New Yorker:

     That manifests itself differently in different classes and geographic areas. For white, middle-class, male, useless people—who have just enough family context to not be crushed by poverty—they become failsons.

   • 2017 June 7, Gary Legum, “Trump family grift is getting worse: Eric and Donald Jr. resurface with a discount hotel scam”, in Salon:

     But that is how it went for family failsons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday.

   • 2017 December 5, Benjamin Fogel, “Why Do So Many Western Leftists Defend Robert Mugabe?”, in Jacobin:

     Zimbabwe’s people suffer while the spoiled failsons of the elite floss on the ’gram.

   • 2019 August 6, Ross Douthat, “The Nihilist in Chief”, in The New York Times:

     [T]he white nationalism of internet failsons is like the allegiance to an imaginary caliphate that motivated the terrorists whose depredations helped get Trump elected in the first place. It's often just a carapace, a flag of convenience, a performance for the vast TV-and-online audience that now attends these grisly spectacles, with a malignant narcissism and nihilism underneath.

Further reading

• Superfluous man on Wikipedia.Wikipedia