It has become the ultimate put-down. But perhaps the time has come to retire it

When Business Week reports that an iPhone app has been developed to celebrate the internet cult Epic Fail, you know – to use another meme that has penetrated popular culture – it has reached tipping point.

In truth, this probably means the putdown phrase has now – ahem – jumped the shark, but it is unlikely to put off the thousands of visitors to Epicfail.com. To the uninitiated, it is probably best described as You've Been Framed In Extremis. Visitors are invited to send in video clips and photographs of things that are judged to be an "epic fail". Thus, given the mores of our age, the website is a celebration of spectacular, painful, cruel, embarrassing failure.

"Epic fails" featured in recent days include a seemingly genuine photograph entitled "Epic parking fail" in which a hearse is seen being towed away outside a church just as the pallbearers and coffin are leaving the funeral. Others include ever-popular footage of skateboarders and BMXers colliding with metal railings.

The phrase "epic fail" has been slowly entering common parlance over the past few years, with the "fail" suffix now being used conversationally by the likes of Jonathan Ross. There was even an episode of House, the US medical drama starring Hugh Laurie, called Epic Fail. But its origin is thought to date back to the late 1990s when a Japanese computer game called Blazing Star became a cult hit thanks in part to its mangled English: "You fail it! Your skill is not enough, see you next time, bye-bye!"

Gamers have used the expression "You fail!" to mock opponents ever since and over time it has morphed into "Epic fail", especially when used as the subject header for forwarded emails containing videos and pictures of notable fails. Epicfail.com was set up early last year by a student living in New Jersey and it now acts as a clearing house for thousands of "epic fails". The sign that the phrase has truly entered the mainstream could come during the coming weeks should one of the parties apply it to a rival's policy. Well, they have got to reach out to the youth vote somehow.