SNAFU

From Fresh Dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Acronym 1.4 Noun 1.5 Related terms

English

Etymology

The term was given to the military training cartoon character, Private Snafu, by Frank Capra in 1942. The stories were written by Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss), and Snafu's voice was done by Mel Blanc. It is not clear whether the term existed before that.

In 1941, Don Taylor and his buddy Johnny Paup of the Army Signal Corps were making words out of five-letter code groups. SNAFU was one of those groups.

Pronunciation

• AHD: snä'foo͞
• IPA: /ˈsnɑːfuː/
• SAMPA: /"snAfu:/

Acronym

SNAFU

1. (Military slang): Situation normal, all fucked up! or Situation normal. All fouled up. (1943)

Noun

SNAFU (or snafu)

1. a major glitch or breakdown

Related terms

• fubarpl:SNAFU