Sunday, February 10, 2008

NSFW

I’m reading Rick Atkinson’s “The Day of Battle” at the moment.  Atkinson expanded my knowledge of the acronym “SNAFU” by sharing several of its many derivatives.  I’ll put the rest of this below the fold, because it’s NSFW (not safe for work).

For those who don’t know, SNAFU is an acronym that originated in the minds of bored drafted soldiers getting familiar with Army life.  It stands for “Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.”  It’s close cousin is FUBAR - “Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.”  Here are some others that Atkinson shared:

SUSFU - Situation Unchanged, Still Fucked Up

SAFU - Self-Adjusting Fuck Up

TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up

FUMTU - Fucked Up More Than Usual

JANFU - Joint Army-Navy Fuck Up

JAAFU - Joint Anglo-American Fuck Up

FUAFUP - Fucked Up and Fucked Up Proper

That is all…

(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2104 hrs
Culture + Military

  1. We in the Navy sometimes referred to FUBAR as…“Fucked Up Beyond All Repair”....there is also the classic BOHICA, “Bend Over, Here It Comes Again”.....

    Posted by Pete Fanning on February 10, 2008 at 2136 hrs


  2. I’ve also seen FUBAR as the acronym for “Fucked up beyond all recognition”.

    MUNGed is a nice acronym from MIT engineering students: Mashed Until No Good.

    Robert Graves once observed the utility of “fuck” and its derivatives when he heard a RAF aircraft mechanic thrown down his wrench and exclaim, “Fuck! The fucking fucker’s fucked.”  (From Goodbye to All That.)

    Posted by Leisureguy on February 10, 2008 at 2252 hrs


  3. Honestly, I don’t know about all of these acronyms. But now I’m a little bit familiar with them. Thanks for sharing it.

    Posted by Peyton on February 11, 2008 at 0307 hrs


  4. So that’s how rich the military people’s vocabulary is. Now I’m enlightened. I didn’t know most of these acronyms. These must be very useful in their everyday life/operation.

    Posted by Humus on February 11, 2008 at 1101 hrs


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