About

"Shamefur Dispray" is a catchphrase originating from the 2011 strategy video game Total War: Shogun 2. It is a mangled Engrish way of saying "Shameful Display" used to insult another player's poor tactics in the game, later becoming a phrase used for other video game titles when someone failed. In memes, the quote appears in a variety of ways, such as image macros, YouTube poops and other formats.

Origin

The original full phrase "Our men are running from the battlefield! Shameful display!" is said by your virtual advisor in the game Total War: Shogun 2, released March 15th, 2011, whenever one of your units loses their morale and routs from the battlefield. The first reference to this was uploaded by YouTuber^[4] DinhLilium on March 20th, 2011, receiving over 329,000 views, 2,600 likes and 260 comments in roughly 10 years (shown below).

Since the probability of at least one unit routing every battle was extremely high, players were likely to hear this phrase at least once a match and the announcer's heavy Japanese accent further fueled the phrase into becoming a meme. The most likely origin point for this phrase is the /v/ forums of 4chan. The first instance of the "shamefur dispray" version comes from a post on March 16th, 2011, when a /v/ board user commented in a Shogun 2 general thread and mocked the difficulty that the original poster was playing in the game (seen below).^[1]

Spread

"Shamefur dispray" and other Engrish phrases were then used frequently in discussions of the game throughout 4chan and to other Total War dedicated sites and communities, such as Total War Center^[2] and YouTube comments on Shogun 2 videos. The Steam group for the /v/ Shogun Clan is also called "Shamefur Dispray (Brogun)," referencing the original meme (shown below).^[3]

On June 9th, 2011, YouTuber^[5] Kaiserhawk uploaded a typography version of the meme, receiving over 307,000 views, 4,100 likes and 310 comments in roughly nine and a half years (seen below, left). On June 22nd, 2012, YouTuber^[6] WiiWad uploaded a remixed song version of the meme from TGS, receiving over 50,000 views, 1,800 likes and 130 comments in roughly eight and a half years (seen below, right).

Voice Actor

The voice actor behind the famous line is Togo Igawa, who worked with Creative Assembly on Shogun 2. Igawa has also appeared in a slew of other films and various media, including 2003's historical fiction film The Last Samurai, where he portrayed General Hasegawa (shown below).^[7] On January 25th, 2021, Redditor QitianDashengYeye pointed out this appearance in a thread posted to /r/totalwar,^[8] which received over 220 upvotes and 23 comments in 15 days.

Variants and Additional Phrases

Shamefur Dispray! Commit Sudoku! An intentional mistake of replacing the Japanese "Seppuku" ritual suicide with the Japanese logic puzzle "Sudoku" for a humorous effect.

OUL GENHALAL IS IN GRHAVE DANGA! Another common phrase in the game that is said whenever the general of the army is in active combat. Since the general unit is often used in the crucial moments of the battle, this phrase is most likely to be heard at least once per battle.

Grorious dispray! A counterpart to Shamefur Dispray, it is used as a compliment rather than an insult.

Various Examples

Search Trends

External References