English
wikipedia
Alternative spellings
snafu

Etymology
The term was born during the WWII as an acronym of the initials of the words "situation normal, all fucked up", which summed up the chaos and confusion of the war from an individual soldier's point of view.

Pronunciation
rfp Disputed... pronunciation can be on either syllable and the first vowel is /æ/, not /��/, according to dictionary.com. Regional differences may exist, so regionality labels are needed.
enPR|snä'foo�
IPA|/�sn��fu/
SAMPA|/"snAfu/

acronym
SNAFU

1. context|military slang euphemistically, foul up|fouled up.

Noun
snafu (plural snafus)

1. A ridiculously chaotic situation.
2. A major glitch or breakdown.

#*2007, Susan Glairon, Paperwork SNAFU, The Daily Times-Call, [http://www.longmontfyi.com/Local-Story.asp?id=15646, LongmontFYI?]
#*: Because of a paperwork snafu, he also hasn�t been able to get his Army discharge papers and is still listed as an active-duty soldier...

Related terms
FUBAR

See also
Article on a military training cartoon character: w:Private Snafu|Private Snafu, by w:Frank Capra|Frank Capra in 1942. The stories were written by Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. w:Dr. Seuss|Dr. Seuss).

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Category:Military slang

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• 2007-12-06 00:16 - Sewnmouthsecret - Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/24.237.213.206|24.237.213.206]] ([[User_talk:24.237.213.206|Talk]]); changed back to last version by [[User:DCDuring|DCDuring]]

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