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There are several sound clips that are widely understood to mean "(epic) fail". I think the most famous one is the one with the oboe or trumpet... 4 notes with declining pitch, the last one being stretched out.

  • Is there a common way to capture that in writing?
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  • 9
    One note is worth 76 words.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Mar 25, 2014 at 14:28

2 Answers 2

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The most common ways I've seen are writing out the words:

sad trombone
:( trombone

Or to use the onomatopoeic

Wah, Wah, Wah, Wahhhhhhh …
Womp, Womp, Womp, Wommmmmp… (at the behest of several commenters)

Or to combine them:

sad trombone: wah, wah, wah, wahhhhh …

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    Perfect... I was trying all kinds of "wua, ua, wue" on Youtube and I couldn't find anything :)
    – Emanuel
    Mar 25, 2014 at 14:32
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    Yes, onomatopoeia varies from language to language. It makes it challenging to look it up …
    – David M
    Mar 25, 2014 at 14:34
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    +1 I would have used similar onomatopoeia, but had never heard of "sad trombone".
    – TecBrat
    Mar 25, 2014 at 17:40
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    I also saw "womp, womp, womp" and I like "wom, wom, wowowom".
    – TecBrat
    Mar 25, 2014 at 17:59
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    But that sound isn't wompwompwomp. It's wompwompwompwomp. The name "womp womp" to me conjures up a different sound [not sure where to most easily find it] which smears the first three notes together [it's a trombone after all].
    – supercat
    Jun 22, 2018 at 15:16
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This is known as the "sad trombone" (see as a reference: http://www.sadtrombone.com/)

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