failson
/FAIL-sun/noun
Meaning
An insulting slang term for an unsuccessful, incompetent, or disappointing adult son—especially one from a wealthy, famous, or powerful family who continues to get opportunities and protection through family money or influence. The word can also be used more broadly for an adult son who has failed to launch, regardless of his family's class.[3][4]
- 1. A mediocre or incompetent adult son of a prominent or wealthy family who benefits from inherited money, status, or connections.
- 2. A disappointing or unsuccessful adult son who remains dependent on his family, even when wealth and power are not central to the situation.
- 3. A self-deprecating label for a man who feels stuck, directionless, or unable to become independent.
Examples
“He got the executive title, the corner office, and absolutely no business sense. Total failson.”
“My brother is a failson with a trust fund and three abandoned startups.”
“The nepo baby became a failson the moment he started blaming interns.”
“I spent the weekend gaming in my parents' basement—failson behavior.”
“That family business has one competent manager and two failsons.”
Origin and spread
Failson is a compound of fail and son. The modern slang sense is documented online by November 20, 2012, in a Something Awful forum thread, though the available record does not establish who coined it. The term was circulating in print by 2016 and received wider attention after a November 2016 New Yorker article described the Chapo Trap House audience and its social context. Chapo Trap House is sometimes credited with popularizing the word, but not necessarily with originating it. In later use, failson has broadened from a specifically privileged man to a generally disappointing or dependent adult son.
How to use it
Failson is usually comic, contemptuous, and class-conscious rather than neutral. It most often targets men who appear to have failed despite substantial advantages, so calling someone a failson can imply both personal incompetence and resentment of inherited privilege. In self-description, it may be rueful or ironic; when aimed at another person, it is plainly an insult. The term is gendered, and faildaughter exists but is much less common.
Sources
- 1. The New Yorker — What Will Become of the Dirtbag Left?
- 2. Wiktionary — failsonSupports: form, earliest documented use.
- 3. Salon — Trump's family grift is getting worse: Eric and Donald Jr. resurface with a discount hotel scamSupports: meaning.
- 4. Current Affairs — Failson FashionSupports: meaning.
