A year ago, the top stupid internet trend was the LOLcat (take picture of cat, add amusing, badly spelt caption, repeat). In 2008, the world economy is faltering and the happy LOLcat has been replaced with one ubiquitous word: FAIL.

The format is simple: an image of human (or animal) hubris or stupidity, with the word FAIL written across it. It evolved in message boards and forums. The term “fail” (and its opposite, “win”) has been around for a long time, but FAILcats (for want of a better word) have only been popular for a few months. The superlative of “fail” is “Epic Fail”.

The first fail blog was Shipment of Fail , which launched in December 2007, inspired by a photo of a ship loaded with containers in a dock, bearing the slogan: “Your shipment of fail has arrived.” Fail-alike sites have proliferated, including Fail Blog and Doing It Wrong. Threadbombing has a large collection of fails . UPDATE: The first fail blog was NOT Shipment of Fail, but The Fail Salon, which has been running since November 2nd 2007.

Fail as satire – We Are All Angry pioneered the satirical image with a shot of George Bush delivering the State of the Union address, with 76 “Fail” arrows pointing to everyone in the room.

Bonus: Shipment of Fail's top 10 FAILs:

1. Your shipment of fail has been delivered

2. Junction of fail

3. Superbowl fail

4. Camera fail

5. Cargo shipment of fail

6. Minesweeper fail

7. Security camera fail

8. Police laptop fail

9. Voyeur fail

10. Stairway to fail

(Based on user voting)