Column:

FML so popular, it has its own Web site

People share embarrassing, upsetting stories for a good laugh.

By Lindsay Eanet

Published April 17, 2009

"Today I went to a bar with two guys I was interested in. The first I'd been trying to go out with all semester. The second I had gone to dinner with and he seemed nice. I was the designated driver, they drank too much and on the way home hooked up in the back seat. FML."

Sound familiar? No? Well how about this little gem...

"Today, I went shopping with my friend. The store was having a special where if you spend over $75 you receive a free T-shirt. I paid for my items and my total was over $75. The salesman didn't hand me a shirt so I asked him for one. He looks at me and says, 'I'm sorry, we only have mediums.' FML."

Maybe you're giggling right now. Or you've uttered an "Oh, snap!" of agreement that yes, this person's life is indeed effed.

The above are selections from fmylife.com, an increasingly popular Web site in which hapless (or very creative) people can post their most ridiculously uncomfortable, unfortunate or just plain awful experiences and anecdotes. The site has made its way into my friends' RSS feeds, where they too have joined in the fun of judging whether the situation is indeed worthy of an "FML," just as each person who posts on the site has his or her life placed under the scrutiny of its readers.

It's a wonderful exercise in Schadenfreude, being able to read all these sob stories of work blunders and cheating lovers, to laugh and even to tangibly and anonymously judge. It's amazing the satisfaction we as people get out of hearing about how inherently awful someone else's life is. Maybe it has something to do with the optimistic notion that things could always be worse. You might have failed that exam, but at least you're not the dude who got fired, dumped and had his mother tell him he could stand to lose a few pounds all on the same day. Whatever the reason though, we love getting a kick out of other peoples' misery.

This is all sort of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the ability to give an absurd catchphrase and a humorous angle to our most pressing problems might be beneficial to our national psyche. After all, there are few greater coping mechanisms than a sense of humor, even at the expense of others.

On the other hand, the chance to give the Olympics of Suffering its own slogan and a forum for competitive complaining might have the reverse effect and usher in a new age where even the most insignificant inconvenience suddenly becomes a full blown FML.

So my hope for us is this: that we ensure, in the face of our growing FML craze, that we fall into the former category, that we refrain from overusing not just the phrase, but the outlook itself. The "FML" must be used sparingly and with discern, for situations in which one's complaints are merited, or at the very least, a great story.

Besides, most of the stories on the site are probably fake anyway.