I always knew that my father, a WWII veteran, used the word "snafu." But I have only just learned its origin, as an acronym for "Situation Normal All Fucked Up". Colour me shocked! - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

peterfitz1.bsky.social • 104 days ago

I always knew that my father, a WWII veteran, used the word "snafu."
But I have only just learned its origin, as an acronym for "Situation Normal All Fucked Up".
Colour me shocked!

Comments

ellaryian.bsky.social•104 days ago

🤯

aileenscotty.bsky.social•104 days ago

My dad used to say that too, only he thought I didn’t know what it meant…my brothers had told me. 😂

barbgoesto.bsky.social•104 days ago

Never knew that either.

rosiebank.bsky.social•104 days ago

Gentler times. My father, also a WWII vet, would very, very occasionally say “bloody” to which my mother would say “don’t bring your army language into this house”.

lukefoley.me•104 days ago

It’s an army thing, we used to say it in the 90’s as well.

jacquibigtweets.bsky.social•104 days ago

Airforce. Used to say it in 70s and 80s

poppyrick.bsky.social•104 days ago

And Navy. Might as well say it was military.

jacquibigtweets.bsky.social•104 days ago

Absolutely

ecunurse.bsky.social•104 days ago

My dad used to say that as well. WW2 veteran, gone 9 years now. An acronym, just as relevant now, as then.

tassielizzie.bsky.social•104 days ago

Certainly used it nursing in the 60’s!

annaclarity.bsky.social•104 days ago

Well my father--also a WW11 veteran, used to say ChristAlBloodyMighty.

brbarryparker.bsky.social•104 days ago

Oh, and Lieutenant NFI. “No Fcking Idea”.

brbarryparker.bsky.social•104 days ago

And we were still using it in the RAR in the 90’s

anneeh.bsky.social•104 days ago

Have heard 'snaffed' use - guess it comes from snafu. My grandmother's uncle used to say 'jam & butter the ruddy bucket ....". My grandmother said she only realised what he meant once she was an adult.

jambinujag.bsky.social•104 days ago

You didn't know? Where have you been?

lambrettagp71.bsky.social•103 days ago

SNAFU Situation Normal All Fucked Up
FUBAR Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition
BOHICA Bend Over Here It Comes Again
TARFU Totally And Royally Fucked Up

There are many more

wtgator.bsky.social•103 days ago

I was told it was "Situation Normal All Fouled Up".

therealwilso.bsky.social•104 days ago

I’ve seen the word used twice (before today). Once as answer in an old Daily Telegraph crossword (years ago) - the clue was “Chaos”, and once in a Daffy Duck cartoon (from the Mel Blanc era)

lizmac77.bsky.social•103 days ago

There's a horror anthology available in Australia - SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror. It would seem the term is linked to the military.

gaffa3007.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wow Fitz... given all the research you've done around various conflict I would have thought you'd know that one already. Have you ever watched Catch 22 movie? 1970 and they used it there a lot.
There are also the old war training cartoons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Snafu

intbystand.bsky.social•104 days ago

How have you only just learned that? #auspol

handle99.bsky.social•104 days ago

And then, you could just say Situation Normal and everybody knew it was actually all Fucked

singlestart20.bsky.social•103 days ago

Thank you! I never knew the origin, but as a kid, I heard it all the time, usually in reference to something muddled up, so this tracks 🙃

aussiesewerrat.bsky.social•103 days ago

Look up how long the term Gremlin has been in use.

countessdetas.bsky.social•104 days ago

Really?

kingjay007.bsky.social•104 days ago

BLYFU.

dbranch9.bsky.social•104 days ago

I think I first came across it in Catch 22.

Coincidentally, SNAFU was the first band I ever saw live at the Cromer Links Pavilion back in the 70s

doldine.bsky.social•104 days ago

That’s where I read it

max357.bsky.social•104 days ago

Like good Australian slang, many useful acronyms are in danger of falling into desuetude, such as -

UFO = Unimaginably Flatulent Object (see also "Politician")
BANANAS = Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone Significant, a key principle of modern town planning
NFW = Normal For Wyong

max357.bsky.social•104 days ago

DAPT = Dry As a Pommie's Towel (aka extreme and prolonged drought conditions)
UNFKNBLVABL = a subject to be approached with a healthy measure of scepticism
TARFU = British version of a SNAFU (Totally and Royally F*d Up)
BDOA = Beset with Delusions of his/her Own Adequacy

max357.bsky.social•104 days ago

BOHICA = Bend Over, Here It Comes Again

beckjoinyourunion.bsky.social•104 days ago

I’ve worked in the past with a few people (none hired by me) who were PURE: Preciously Undetected Recruitment Errors.

beckjoinyourunion.bsky.social•103 days ago

* PREVIOUSLY god damn autocorrect which can’t work out my actual errors but does introduce new ones even when I’ve typed correctly 🧐

echoes1971.bsky.social•104 days ago

It was in the first Mad Max movie...

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stuart8.bsky.social•104 days ago

I think the polite version may have used the word 'fouled'.

jenbone.bsky.social•103 days ago

I still love FUBAR

and FRED (fkn ridiculous eatin' devices) from my army/aforce friends about their sporks for bivouacs

myfriendpeter.bsky.social•104 days ago

A kind of polite way to say it 😂

ben-oloughlin.bsky.social•104 days ago

If you watch Saving Private Ryan (fast forward through the harrowing Normandy landing sequence), there’s a scene where Tom Hanks’ character leading his platoon through fields in rural France where a few of these acronyms are explained.

nonputo.bsky.social•104 days ago

With all of your military history books, how are you only finding out about this now?
😲

tmfscottp.bsky.social•104 days ago

And FUBAR, its close cousin.

(Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.)

kieranu.bsky.social•103 days ago

Bru

zeddog.bsky.social•104 days ago

Still standard army language (learnt it from my b-i-law)

rotimanmk2.bsky.social•104 days ago

Can have a double meaning: the usual way things are done is fucked up OR all fucked up is normal here.

teenbell.bsky.social•104 days ago

I used to work in local govt. FCR is fine crushed rock. One day the Mayor (a woman) heard the engineers talking about FBR. She wanted to know what it was. They didn’t want to say. Fucking big rocks.

mikecarlton01.bsky.social•104 days ago

You have clearly led a sheltered life 😊

walthawtin.bsky.social•104 days ago

Was that an American Vietnam War thing?

I'm a touch too young to know....

mikecarey23.bsky.social•104 days ago

Earlier than that, US Army WW2 origins.

walthawtin.bsky.social•104 days ago

Aah really? Ok

odinstoenail.bsky.social•104 days ago

We'd better keep quiet about FUBAR then ;)

mikecarlton01.bsky.social•104 days ago

😁

billsugden.bsky.social•104 days ago

🤣🤣🤣

madeleine30.bsky.social•104 days ago

I came here to say that. I believe it originated in WW1, but it applies to all wars.

xenakes55.bsky.social•103 days ago

Cleaned up version:
Same shit....
Different day....

otto73.bsky.social•104 days ago

Ah, Pete, you obviously read the wrong books as a youngster. Known that one for years.

chrisgoss.bsky.social•104 days ago

See also: FUBAR

mikecarey23.bsky.social•104 days ago

Well, colour me surprised that you hadn't already discovered its meaning, what with your extensive writings.

delsinistra.bsky.social•104 days ago

LOL! Yes, I learned that acronym quite a few years ago. I get a vague memory that it has been used in some movies set in the war.

woots2621.bsky.social•104 days ago

NFI? FMD!

terry-scott.bsky.social•104 days ago

You should also know...

DILLIGAF
...it may come in handy.

jackamsterdam.bsky.social•104 days ago

Nearly as good as FUBAR Pete!

markozag.bsky.social•102 days ago

I'm sure he used woftam too. Sanfu I've known about for 40 years at least

juliaadult.bsky.social•103 days ago

CAF?

jlwhitaker.bsky.social•104 days ago

😂

blueylawson.bsky.social•104 days ago

I must say I'm really surprised you didn't know that, Peter.

zaica.bsky.social•104 days ago

🤯 My parents always said that ... but I had NO idea it was an acronym ... and I absolutely LOVE it!

jande53.bsky.social•104 days ago

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dave29.bsky.social•104 days ago

my father also WW2 veteran explained it to me when I was a kid, but I recall he said fouled up because I was too young to swear!

marie-pierre.bsky.social•104 days ago

Seriously? You’ve JUST learned it?

bj64.bsky.social•104 days ago

You'll catch on eventually

tobi1kanobi.bsky.social•104 days ago

FUBAR

sydneyev.bsky.social•103 days ago

Usually following a DILLIGAF situation

wairua.bsky.social•104 days ago

Love it!

phillipisfabulous.bsky.social•104 days ago

My father also used it (served in northern Guadalcanal Canal and Northern New Guinea, '42 to '45).

tbeaumont.bsky.social•103 days ago

Interesting, I like that. Kinda like "FUBAR"

skwisgaar.bsky.social•104 days ago

I learned it from a movie, maybe 90's, 00's... can't remember which one...

Wasn't Men at Work, was it?

skwisgaar.bsky.social•104 days ago

Apparently not, according to an online script... anyway, great movie, that one.

neiljb.bsky.social•103 days ago

FUBAR, Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition

neiljb.bsky.social•103 days ago

Also WOMFU, Well Organised Military Fuck-Up,

trivalve.bsky.social•104 days ago

You what? The nice ones would say 'fouled'.

bitzadeb.bsky.social•104 days ago

I had a cat called Snafu, and I knew what it meant.

drpaulitious.bsky.social•103 days ago

Pretty sure here was a rock band back in the 70s called Snafu too.

ruthparslow.bsky.social•104 days ago

I learnt the term in a political science course in the mid -70’s run an American lecturer (at UOQ)

mesolelua.bsky.social•103 days ago

The last century version of FUBAR?

jenniferphilp.bsky.social•104 days ago

Really? I'd have thought you'd have known that, given your literary interests

sandyrendel.bsky.social•104 days ago

I cannot believe that it’s only at this age you have learnt the meaning. It’s the perfect expression for current times.
Use it liberally.

ellenhrebeniuk.bsky.social•104 days ago

WWII USAF, I thought.

elanoradreamer.bsky.social•104 days ago

How old did you say you were? 🤔🙂🙂

my2centsworth.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wow, I've known the meaning of SNAFU since I was a teenager. (ex military vets in the family dating back to WW2)

Also FUBAR=Fvcked Up Beyond All Recognition
BOHICA =Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
TARFU=Totally And Royally Fucked Up or Things Are Really Fucked Up
All started in WW2.

maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

Never ever heard of it until now but how absolutely perfect 👍

my2centsworth.bsky.social•104 days ago

I particularly like FUBAR & BOHICA. Have used those terms for decades. SNAFU less, but still in my list of descriptive acronyms. Must remember to explain what they mean. It's great when slang of old is kept alive. FUBAR was used a lot in the Vietnam War too. Time to revive it again I think

jillsill.bsky.social•104 days ago

I think developing situation, once we arrive at 2025 will require us to use all these terms on a regular basis

my2centsworth.bsky.social•104 days ago

True. We can use all we can get

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maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

Absolutely 💯😁👍👏

maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

Just looked up furbar..... after asking all around.... they think I have too much time on my hands 😞😕....I like it

my2centsworth.bsky.social•104 days ago

Drop the first R= it's FUBAR

maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

😮👍😁

maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

Please share.... even though I am old enough to know these 🤭 I don't 🥴

maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

Bohica 🤭😁👍😀

chrisduncan.bsky.social•104 days ago

I didn't know that...my Dad said it, I have said it...he too was a WW11 Veteran....😂

psychofunk.bsky.social•104 days ago

You didn't know that, really? I find this difficult to believe. 😂

trish-kingsley6026.bsky.social•103 days ago

I remember my Dad, WWII veteran, telling us that when them were sent by the “Neville’s” to an island to build a runway, they found it was a swamp. I think that would have generated a “Snafu”.

southernaussieson.bsky.social•104 days ago

Used it all the time. Hmmm Pete I am very slightly younger than you. My dad, country lad, never used it. Shows how different sayings progress in different places

curious247.bsky.social•104 days ago

Really? that's gobsmacking tbh.

lkjandersen.bsky.social•104 days ago

Back during wwii, Warner Bros. made a series of cartoon training videos for the army, starring Private Snafu. The acronym given there was "situation normal, all... [beat] all fouled up", the joke obviously being that the narrator had to find a polite f-word on the fly.

derekianrobinson.bsky.social•104 days ago

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fanaticeel.bsky.social•104 days ago

I did time in the chocolates and learned this phrase in the 80’s.. you were obviously too busy putting your head in scrums😂

cooks4luv.bsky.social•104 days ago

What? Funny. I’ve always assumed everybody knew that. Originated in the military during WW II
Also FUBAR
Fun!

neddynoel.bsky.social•104 days ago

You might find this interesting.

https://youtu.be/4OZg79wqs04?si=pfUBA2BWmi8vbwZ5

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tomirite.bsky.social•104 days ago

I worked for ICI for most of my working life and we used the word TICIFU, typical ICI fuck up.

ellavoice.bsky.social•103 days ago

A guy I worked with got a little messy on a night on the town and wound up in the ER. They put on his file PAFO. P*ssed and fell over.

mekim24.bsky.social•104 days ago

And it seems pertinent in todays times

bridiemac.bsky.social•104 days ago

Funny, used it in a tweet about two days ago. It has many applications. 😊

giddeygal.bsky.social•104 days ago

What! Big word in the Vietnam protest era, I recall.

greyfinch.bsky.social•104 days ago

great 'word', still appropriate

maubsa.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wonderful new word..... may I use it 👍👏👏😀

ernestmalley.bsky.social•104 days ago

Such were the trials & tribulations of a five figure man.

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glenntheplummer.bsky.social•104 days ago

That snafu is an acronym is a new one for me. Do you know FIG JAM. Used as “they are fig jam”. Fuck I’m Good, Just Ask Me.

ozwiltshire.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wow, where have you been hiding? I learnt that 50 years ago. 😅

saywot.bsky.social•104 days ago

It's featured throughout "Saving Private Ryan"

friedoutkombie.bsky.social•103 days ago

I’m shocked you didn’t know that after all you’ve written. I first heard it in high school when me brother joined the RAAF. I’m now 66

stephendburns.bsky.social•104 days ago

Another Army one the 7P's

Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

zem-australia.bsky.social•104 days ago

Pete... you need to get out more 😂

queenotstonedage.bsky.social•103 days ago

There are several:
USMC, Uncle Sam's Misguided Children.
FUBAR, Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.
Ft. Eustis, Fuck This, Even Uncle Sam Thinks It Sucks.
SNAFU, Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.
Just to name a few 😊

dragonscorpio.bsky.social•104 days ago

Well same here. My dad would always use it.

squashthecheeto.bsky.social•103 days ago

It is not an acronym for the current situation! There is nothing normal about it!

leantoo.bsky.social•103 days ago

FUBAR was also in use - made famous in saving private Ryan - Fucked up beyond all recognition.

mryingyang.bsky.social•104 days ago

So America is snafu.

beckjoinyourunion.bsky.social•104 days ago

Let’s hope it’s not FUBAR…

mryingyang.bsky.social•104 days ago

America has been border line FU’d for a long wile & finally gone all the way.
Beyond return? Maybe. Easier to be fooled than than to admit you’ve been fooled.

sandyrendel.bsky.social•104 days ago

English.

sandyrendel.bsky.social•104 days ago

Worldwide.

jodunca.bsky.social•104 days ago

No it’s definitely FUBAR

lesliee112.bsky.social•104 days ago

I didn’t know that. Going to be come à common word for me.

greg2515.bsky.social•104 days ago

I did not know that.🤷

itsonelouder.com•104 days ago

And in polite company you can replace fucked with fouled to give much the same meaning.

kpenland.bsky.social•103 days ago

I personally like FUBAR more: fucked up beyond all recognition. 😂

sprocket0.bsky.social•104 days ago

Next you’ll say FUBAR means something similar

mikecarey23.bsky.social•104 days ago

Beyond all recognition indeed!

cooks4luv.bsky.social•104 days ago

F-upped beyond all recovery/recognition :)

jonayre.uk•103 days ago

Derived from furchtbar (meaning terrible in German). Heard in WWII and anglicised.

jonayre.uk•103 days ago

The acronym came later (or so I was told by someone who served in WWII)

gameshowevents.host•104 days ago

You’re going to tell us you don’t what Fubar means next.

farmsy.bsky.social•104 days ago

Lol! My grandpa told us +Tarfu and Fubar. Obviously that kind of household.

ktulurose.bsky.social•104 days ago

It's weird when we find things out about our parents, isn't it? We have this picture of who they are, etc, and then something happens, and you're like, wow, I never knew that!

ktulurose.bsky.social•104 days ago

My Dad is about to turn 90. I was on the phone with him the other day, and we were discussing politics. Yes, the orange one. The f word was used..
A lot! 😳 🤣 it really shocked me! It shouldn't have, but he's usually so careful around me and my mum!

toastywarmhamster.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wasn't it mentioned/explained in Spike Milligan's war bios? I read them in my late teens... or maybe reading the term made me go and look it up.

fairgo.bsky.social•103 days ago

Great acronym though

m0use8oy.bsky.social•103 days ago

If you're surprised about SNAFU

Get ready for FUBAR

Fucked/fouled Up Beyond Recognition/Repair

kelvinjperson.bsky.social•104 days ago

😆😆😆😆

mac-on-tap.bsky.social•104 days ago

It’s surprising to learn that you hadn’t heard that years ago with all of your research on war history.

margaretrose.bsky.social•104 days ago

Watched ‘Saving Pvt Ryan’ where they used FUBAR. Fuct up beyond all recognition/Repair

keagar.bsky.social•104 days ago

I’ve never heard that word before. I love it

margroxx1509.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wow just as good as FUBAR 😆

franfeachadoir.bsky.social•104 days ago

I had a clerk who when we audited machinery thought U.S. meant “up to $hit” rather than unserviceable. Info courtesy of the mechanics.

roseannebyrne.bsky.social•104 days ago

Where have you been?

marie-anne1.bsky.social•104 days ago

Wait, what?
That's hilarious, how did you not know that? 😊 such an innocent!
I'm pretty sure it was used in Top Gun way back when.

rugbyreg.bsky.social•104 days ago

I only recently learnt what Pacino’s famous hooha mean too. It’s actually HUA. Which is Heard, Understood, Acknowledged.

beckjoinyourunion.bsky.social•104 days ago

I did not know that!!!

deniseshrivell.bsky.social•104 days ago

No way!

rugbyreg.bsky.social•104 days ago

Apparently. If you remember the movie he started doing it was Scent of a Woman where was a former US Army guy.

deniseshrivell.bsky.social•104 days ago

Yes - that’s where I know it from. I didn’t know it was an acronym.

reformedactuary.bsky.social•103 days ago

Did he use fubar?

reformedactuary.bsky.social•103 days ago

The clean version is “fouled”.

general-dogs-body.bsky.social•104 days ago

As a 16yo in the early 90s I stumbled across snafu and fubar in these weird but interesting Vietnam war fiction books and have used them ever since but noone knew what I meant. As well as General dogs-body

poppyrick.bsky.social•103 days ago

Another term I only ever heard in the military, and once since was “embuggerance” being something or someone who was a lot of trouble.

poppyrick.bsky.social•104 days ago

It’s never too late to learn.

refoxing.bsky.social•103 days ago

I’d hear that word everyday from my father ..

donnachat.bsky.social•102 days ago

I worked at an Army establishment in the 70’s, so I learned that word then. Very useful!