SNAFU

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This article is about SNAFU as an acronym. For other uses, see Snafu.

"SNAFU" is an acronym meaning things are in a mess – as usual. The most commonly accepted rendering is "Situation Normal: All Fucked Up", or, in polite use, "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up". In modern usage, this rendering is commonly used, as is a "snafu" referring to an otherwise normal situation that suddenly went awry. The acronym is believed to have originated in the US Army during World War II.

1 Use and similar words in the U.S. Army
2 Date of origin
3 Other Uses
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Use and similar words in the U.S. Army

It is also the name of a cartoon United States Army training video as well as the main character, Private Snafu, in the video. SNAFU's meaning was later modified for more polite conversation. In the Private Snafu cartoons, the narrator hints at its real meaning when reading the word to the audience: "Situation Normal, All... All Fouled Up". There are a number of slang army acronyms that are similar to SNAFU. They include:

BOHICA - Bend over, here it comes again.
BOYC - Bitches, obey your commander! (Or "Balls on your chin")
DILLIGAF/DILLIGAS - Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck/Shit? Interrogative form of, "(It) don't mean nothing." Both often heard in Vietnam.
FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair/Reason/Redemption.
FUBB - Fucked Up Beyond Belief.
FUBIO - Fuck You Buddy, I'm Out; or Forget You, Bub, It's Over (polite form)
FUGAZI - Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In; Refers to out-of-control situation such as a chaotic jungle warfare combat environment
FUMTU - Fucked Up More Than Usual.
GFU - General Fuck Up.
IDGAF - I Don't Give a Fuck!
JAAFU or JAAFFU - Joint Army-Air Force Fuck-Up; the use of JANFU combined with a radical increase in joint-forces operations since 1989, has led to the rare but increasing use of JAAFU/JAAFFU.
JANFU - Joint Army/Navy Fuck-Up; used by British troops in WWII.
MMFD - Miles and Miles of Fucking Desert! British expression
MUBAR - Mash up beyond all recognition. Refers to being proper mash up.
SMUBAR - Semi mash up beyond all recognition. Not quite MUBAR but well on the way.
SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked/Fouled Up.
SAMFU - Self Adjusting Military Fuck Up.
SUSFU - Situation Unchanged: Still Fucked Up
TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up.
TINS - This Is No Shit! Often seen in veterans' forums.
TOFU - Things Ordinary: Fucked Up.
TUIFU - The Ultimate In Fuck Ups.
WTFO - What the Fuck Over!
YUCATAN - You're Under Certain Annihilation Throw A Nuke!

Note: In situations where 'fucked' is inappropriate, it is often replaced with 'fouled'

During the Battle of the Bulge in WWII, many American troops were retreating in the face of the German advance around the embattled city of Bastogne, where the 101st Airborne Division were besieged and held off the Germans. Some soldiers from the retreating units were banded together by order of General McAuliffe, then ad-hoc commander of the 101st. They were dubbed Task Force SNAFU.

[edit] Date of origin

SNAFU, simply defined as "Situation normal", was reported in American Notes and Queries in their September 1941 issue, which would argue for an origin date no later than early 1941. Most references, including the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, supply a date range of 1940 - 1944, generally attributing it to the U.S. Army.

[edit] Other Uses

S.N.A.F.U. (in this case standing for 'Society of Nefarious and Felonious Undertakings') is the name of the villain group in The X's.

SNAFU (with "fucked" replaced by "fouled") is also the name of experiment 120 in Lilo and Stitch: The Series

"The Big SNAFU" is also a song on the album, "Pass The Hat" released in 1996 by US rockband "The Brandos"

Snafu is also used in the Illuminatus trilogy

SNAFU is also a BMX Bicycle part and frame manufacturer. [1]

Also used as name of a German internet provider. [2]

Situation Normal: All Fucked Up is the last English album ever produced and recorded by Norwegian rapper Don Martin

Master List In the 60's (then) computer geeks combined this list with a series of hexadecimal characters and thus used it to criticize non-techies "behind their backs" so to speak. "He has created an '835' (fubar) but '836' (amiigas).

"Team SNAFU" is a International Airsoft team. [3]

In the 2003 video game Manhunt by Rockstar Games, a Cerberus guard can be heard saying "Got the feeling this is headed SNAFU."

SNAFU is a song by Izzy Stradlin off of the album Like A Dog, featuring the lyrics "situation normal, its all fucked up...situation ordinary, its all fucked up, SNAFU!"