F.U.B.A.R.

Military slang is a colloquial language used by and associated with members of various military forces. This page lists slang words or phrases that originate with military forces, are used exclusively by military personnel or are strongly associated with military organizations.

Acronym slang

A number of military slang terms are acronyms. These include ''SNAFU'', ''SUSFU'', ''FUBAR'', and similar terms used by various branches of the United States military during World War II.

BOHICA

BOHICA stands for ''Bend Over, Here It Comes Again''. The meaning is that something undesirable is going to happen again and that there is not much else one can do other than just endure it.

The ''Log'', the humour magazine written by and for Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, featured a series of comics entitled "The Bohica Brothers", dating back to the early 1970s.

FUBAR

''FUBAR'' (''Fucked/Fouled Up Beyond All/Any Repair/Recognition/Reason''), like SNAFU and SUSFU, dates from World War II. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' lists ''Yank, the Army Weekly'' magazine (1944, 7 Jan. p. 8) as its earliest citation: "The FUBAR squadron. ‥ FUBAR? It means 'Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition," referring to unpaid military personnel with erroneous paperwork.

CHIPS

''CHIPS'' (''Causing Havoc In Peoples Streets'') is a slang term used by the British Army in urban warfare operations, usually in conjunction with ''FISH'' (''Fighting In Someone's House'') as in ''Fish & Chips''.

FUBU

''FUBU'' (''Fucked/Fouled Up Beyond all Understanding'') was also used during World War II.

FRED

''FRED'' (''Fucking Ridiculous Eating Device'') is a slang term in the Australian Army used to refer to the Field Ration Eating Device attached to each ration pack.

SNAFU

''SNAFU'' is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression ''Situation Normal: All Fucked Up'', as a well-known example of military acronym slang. However, the military acronym originally stood for "Status Nominal: All Fucked Up." It is sometimes bowdlerized to ''all fouled up'' or similar. It means that the situation is bad, but that this is a normal state of affairs. It is typically used in a joking manner to describe something that is working as intended, but doesn't necessarily work ''well'' when used for its intended purpose. The acronym is believed to have originated in the United States Marine Corps during World War II.

''Time'' magazine used the term in their June 16, 1942, issue: "Last week U.S. 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.

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.

Private Snafu is the title character of a series of military instructional films, most of which were written by Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, Philip D. Eastman, and Munro Leaf.

In modern usage, ''snafu'' is sometimes used as an interjection, although it is mostly now used as a noun. ''Snafu'' also sometimes refers to a bad situation, mistake, or cause of the trouble. It is more commonly used in modern vernacular to describe running into an error or problem that is large and unexpected. For example, in 2005, ''The New York Times'' published an article titled "Hospital Staff Cutback Blamed for Test Result Snafu".

The attribution of ''SNAFU'' to the American military is not universally accepted: it has also been attributed to the British, although the Oxford English Dictionary gives its origin and first recorded use as the U.S. military.

In 1946, as part of a wider study of military slang, Frederick Elkin noted: "...hereare a few acceptable substitutes, such as 'screw up' or 'mess up', but these do not have the emphasis value of the obscene equivalent." He considered the expression ''SNAFU'' to be: "...a caricature of Army direction. The soldier resignedly accepts his own less responsible position and expresses his cynicism at the inefficiency of Army authority." He also noted that "the expression … is coming into general civilian use."

An Imperial FU

''An Imperial FU'' (''An Imperial Fuck Up'') was used during World War I by soldiers of the outlying British Empire in reference to odd/conflicting orders from British authorities. Note that during World War I, the British Empire had an ''Imperial War Cabinet'', and the troops from Australia were called the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), not to be confused with the AEF, the American Expeditionary Forces of WWI, or the Allied Expeditionary Force of WWII.

SUSFU

''SUSFU'' (''Situation Unchanged: Still Fucked Up'') is closely related to ''SNAFU''.

''SNAFU'' and ''SUSFU'' were first recorded in '' American Notes and Queries'' in their September 13, 1941, issue.

TARFU

''TARFU'' (''Totally And Royally Fucked Up'' or ''Things Are Really Fucked Up'') was also used during World War II.

The 1944 U.S. Army animated shorts '' Three Brothers'' and ''Private Snafu Presents Seaman Tarfu In The Navy'' (both directed by Friz Freleng), feature the characters Private Snafu, Private Fubar, and Seaman Tarfu (with a cameo by Bugs Bunny).

Tommy and the Poor Bloody Infantry

Tommy Atkins

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