![]() Rick Atkinson ascribes the origin of SNAFU, FUBAR, and a bevy of other terms to cynical G.I.s ridiculing the Army's penchant for acronyms. citizens knew that gasoline rationing and rubber requisitioning were snafu." Most reference works, including the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, supply an origin date of 1940–1944, generally attributing it to the United States Army. Time magazine used the term in their June 16, 1942, issue: "Last week U.S. The acronym is believed to have originated in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. ![]() It is typically used in a joking manner to describe something that is working as intended. It means that the situation is bad, but that this is a normal state of affairs. However, the military acronym originally stood for "Status Nominal: All Fucked Up." It is sometimes bowdlerized to all fouled up or similar. SNAFU is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression Situation Normal: All Fucked Up, as a well-known example of military acronym slang. ![]() A similar scenario had occurred with French "m'aidez" ("help me") becoming "Mayday" in WWI with contractions not being common in English verbs it was translated as a single word. Being unable to collectively pronounce the German "rcht" spelling inflection, but knowing the word's pronunciation wasn't greatly modified by it, an Anglo would naturally simplify it to "Fuubar/Fubar" in common usage. A skilled German speaker pronouncing the word would say something which to an anglo would sound like "Foitebar". One possible origin of the term comes from the German word "furchtbar" meaning frightful, negative, or bad. Although the word “rear” is not normally used to describe the vantage point of senior corporate executives, their use of the term might have come about as the result of their frequent conclusions that the cause of corporate problems (inefficiencies and ineffectiveness causing poor profitability or a negative bottom line) rested not with rank and file workers, but rather with executives, particularly senior executives – the equivalent of senior military officers. This particular FUBAR acronym survived WWII and for a time, mainly in the 1970s, found its way into the lexicon of management consultants. FUBAR had a resurgence in the American lexicon after the term was used in two popular movies: Tango and Cash (1989) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Army, where the senior officers command from the rear, as opposed to the Navy or Air Force, where it is common for generals to command alongside their forces. This version is also most likely to have had its origin in the U.S. This version has at least surface validity in that it is a common belief among enlistees that most problems are created by the military brass (officers, especially those bearing the rank of general, from one to four stars). ‥ FUBAR? It means 'Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition," referring to unpaid military personnel with erroneous paperwork.Īnother version of FUBAR, said to have originated in the military, gives its meaning as "Fucked Up By Assholes in the Rear". p. 8) as its earliest citation: "The FUBAR squadron. The Oxford English Dictionary lists Yank, the Army Weekly magazine (1944, 7 Jan. For other uses, see FUBAR (disambiguation).įUBAR ( Fucked/Fouled Up Beyond All Repair/Recognition), like SNAFU and SUSFU, dates from World War II.
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