failchild

English

Etymology

Compound of fail +‎ child.

Pronunciation

Audio (US): (file)

Noun

failchild (plural failchildren)

(Internet slang, derogatory) An incompetent, unsuccessful middle-class or upper-class child of wealthy and influential parents.
- 2019 July 22, Chris Thompson, “Report: The Admissions Side Door May Have Been Open For UCLA Applicants With Influential Connections”, in Deadspin‎^[1], archived from the original on 2022-06-29:
  The college admissions cheating scandal revealed the details of a formalized process for jamming the failchildren of wealthy and prominent families into otherwise credible and prestigious universities, using an expensive "side door" for parents whose wealth leaves them a rung or two shy of the opportunity to just fund a new wing on campus.
- 2022 September 13, Emma Specter, “Meg Stalter on the Showstopping Look She Wore to Her Very First Emmys”, in Vogue‎^[2], New York, N.Y.: Condé Nast Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-29:
  The bitingly funny, Las Vegas-by-way-of-L.A.-set HBO series Hacks took home three awards at the Emmys on Monday night, including the coveted prize for outstanding comedy series, and as luck would have it, one of the show's brightest spots—comedian Meg Stalter, who plays the immaculately clad Hollywood failchild Kayla—was on hand to deliver the look of a lifetime.
- 2023 June 2, Ross Douthat, “Put ’Succession’ in the TV Pantheon”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2024-01-26:
  Third, "Succession" allowed for multiple political and philosophical readings of its narrative, beyond the simple "here's how rich failchildren enable fascism" reading that many liberal viewers took for granted and no doubt some of the writers had in mind.
- 2023 June 22, Chris Lehmann, “A Failson Meets a Failed Justice System”, in The Nation‎^[4], New York, N.Y.: The Nation Company, L.P., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 February 2024:
  The clear thrust of the right's attack is that Biden fils was able to skate on far more serious—if never specified or documented—charges of rampant corruption in his Ukrainian and Chinese business dealings by pleading out on these lesser charges. But consider the unchecked run of Trump failchildren at the helm of shady international enterprises, or Trump's own staggering run of organized tax evasion and serial business fraud.

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