SNAFU is anacronym that is widely used to stand for the sarcastic expression "Situation normal: all fucked up". It is an example ofmilitary acronym slang. It is sometimes censored to "all fouled up" or similar.[3] It means that the situation is bad, but that this is a normal state of affairs. The acronym is believed to have originated in theUnited States Marine Corps duringWorld War II.
In modern usage,SNAFU is used 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".[4]SNAFU also sometimes refers to a bad situation, mistake, or cause of trouble, and it is sometimes used as aninterjection.
Most reference works, including theRandom House Unabridged Dictionary, supply an origin date of 1940–1944, generally attributing it to theU.S. Army.Rick Atkinson ascribes the origin ofSNAFU,FUBAR, and many other terms to cynicalGIs ridiculing the army's penchant for acronyms.[5]
The first known publication of the term was byThe Kansas City Star, on July 27, 1941.[6] It was subsequently recorded inAmerican Notes and Queries in the September 1941 issue (which theOxford English Dictionary in 1986 credited as the term's first appearance).[7]Time magazine used the term in its June 16, 1942, issue: "Last week U.S. citizens knew that gasoline rationing and rubber requisitioning were snafu."[7]
The attribution ofSNAFU to the American military is not universally accepted: it has also been attributed to the British,[8] although theOxford English Dictionary gives its origin and first recorded use as U.S. military slang.[7]
In a wider study of military slang, Elkin noted in 1946 that there "are 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 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."[9]
SUSFU is an acronym forSituation unchanged: still fucked up, but can also bebowdlerized—just likeSNAFU—toSituation unchanged: still fouled up. It is used in amilitary context and was first recorded in theAmerican Notes and Queries (ANQ) in their September 1941 issue.[citation needed]
'Situation Normal All . . . All Fouled Up,' as the first SNAFU animated cartoon put it
