Ed Minch wrote:
>There's a difference between a failure and a fiasco. A failure is 
>simply the non-presence of success. Any fool can accomplish failure. 
>But a fiasco, a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions. A fiasco 
>is a folktale told to others, that makes other people feel more 
>alive because it didn't happen to them.

To carry this just a step further:

I recently learned that the origin of the term "fiasco"
is Italian for, roughly, "bottle".   More specifically
it is that round-bottomed bottle that you often
see in movies, being held in a wicker basket,
and typically filled with wine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiasco_(bottle)

(Furthermore, the phrase "far fiasco" --i.e. "to make a bottle---
is an Italian idiom for "to make a mistake".)

I'm not sure if anyone is sure how this term took
on its current meaning in English, but perhaps we might
look no further than imagining the bottle filled with Chianti
to connect it to Ed's description of "a disaster of
mythic proportions".

N
[Old tool connection:  St Roy's description of pit saws, etc,
as an example of "alcohol-powered tools".]