FUBAR
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FUBAR is an acronym that commonly means "fucked up beyond all repair," "fucked up beyond all recognition," or any of a number of similar constructions. It originated in the United States armed forces, but its usage has spread to civilian environments.
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[edit] Variations
The phrase is sometimes bowdlerized by replacing fucked with fouled.
Depending on the situation, all can be replaced with any, and repair can be replaced with rehabilitation, redemption, recognition, realization, rescue, reality, recovery, relief, religion, reconciliation, or reasoning.[citation needed]
The concept is generally the same regardless of the exact wording used.
[edit] Etymology and history
Electronics engineers report that SNAFU and FUBAR were used before World War II by repairmen sent out to repair phone booths. They had to report the situation at arrival to the scene, often on a very bad line, so they developed these acronyms to make themselves understood.[1]
The Oxford English Dictionary currently 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.'"
In the 1944 U.S. Army animated short The Three Brothers (directed by Friz Freleng),[2] a character named Fubar is a brother of Private Snafu (Situation Normal, All Fucked Up)[3] and Tarfu (Things Are Really Fucked Up, or Totally and Royally Fucked Up).
In 1980 FUBAR also appears in an apparent example of geek humor, as the acronym for the Failed UniBus Address Register in the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX-11/780 Unibus adapter (DW780).[4]
- BOHICA: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
- FIDO: Fuck It — Drive On
- FIFI: Fuck It — Fly It
- FIGMO: Fuck It — I Got My Orders (as in one about to be transferred or discharged)
- FUGAZI: Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In
- FUBAB: Fucked Up Beyond All Belief
- FUBB: Fucked Up Beyond Belief
- FUMTU: Fucked Up More Than Usual
- JANFU: Joint Army-Navy Fuck Up
- MIL-TDD-41P: Make It Like The Damn Drawing for once, Please
- SNAFUBAR: Situation Normal: All Fucked Up Beyond All Repair/Recognition
- SOL: Shit Out of Luck
- FUUSAB: Fucked Up Until Space And Beyond
- SUSFU: Situation Unchanged, Still Fucked Up
- SOGOTP: Shit Or Get Off The Pot
- TARFU: Things Are Really Fucked Up, or Totally and Royally Fucked Up
- TAUFU: Totally And Utterly Fucked Up
- FOF: Fucked Open Fighting
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "The Health Science Institute", [1]
- ^ "The Three Brothers Friz Freleng (motion picture)". Library of Congress. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200025794/default.html. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ Pietro Shakarian. "Situation Normal All Fouled Up:A History of Private Snafu". goldenagecartoons.com. http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/miscelooneyous/snafu/. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
- ^ "VAX Hardware Handbook," page 373. Digital Equipment Corporation, 1980.
