Snafu
Snafu… what exactly does it mean? And where did it come from?
There is some profanity in this lesson, so, not for the kids if that concerns you.
Here is a funny old movie with the word sanfu and booby trap (two words/phrases that I have done).
Thanks prospero811 for pointing it out 
Yes FUBAR…fu..ed up beyond all recognition.
This origined from GI’s fighting in Germany during second World War 2. They heard the Krauts say “Furchtbar” very often, which means as much as CRUEL.
And because Americans weren’t very skilled and talented in german language they said the word incorrectly and this sounded like “FUBAR”…and because this soldiers didn’t know the right meaning they just sais that from now on it should be a shortening.
I hope you did understand me, because i am not very talented in english language either^^
Free Milk—Why buy the cow, when you can get the milk for free? This was my random lesson and until the next one peace out
The word in question is “FUBAR” F***ed up beyound all reason. or
F***ed up beyond all repair. Whishever one you prefer.
FUBAR I have been there many nights!
The Word you’re talking about is FUBAR. Fucked Up Beyond All Repair. and the Canadian Army Strikes again.
Ok now the reply boxes are working now. Hummmm… strange…
Ok this page is really messed up. Big time FUBAR!!!!!!
Marina, The Reply is not working. I reloaded and still the server refuses to post replies on this blog page.
Bobsully, Thats what I thought it was until I watched the video then I noticed it changed from what I remembered it to be. Its not the same video as before. The video was uploaded on May 10th. Notice our comments started on April 28th. So what was changed? Two things. Can you find them???
I miss the rating stars
reruns? Is it Summer already?
Thats what I thought!
But when I watched it I notice something different. Its a new video. Check the upload date on YouTube. 
Also the video has a few changes in it. Watch it again as see if you notice what she changed. 
I noticed two of them.
I only noticed two also…love the eye roll after, …”and your sister”
Thats what I thought it was until I watched the video then I noticed it changed from what I remembered it to be. Its not the same video as before. The video was uploaded on May 10th. Notice our comments started on April 28th. So what was changed? Two things. Can you find them???
I can only come up with a cat and a dog in the intro and a beep for the curse words and maybe the word “censored” on the black box? Its all a big maybe for me!
Yea it used to say ‘fouled up’ and not ‘f**ed up’. The censor box. The bleeps. I didn’t notice the cat and dog was different. Must have missed that one.
A more censored version? I still don’t get the point.
Another great video, oh teacher of mine.
I had a question for you - What is the proper usage of WHOM versus usage of WHO?
When do you use which one, and why?
I have two potential answers:
WTF - What the fuck?!
FUBAR - Fucked up beyond all recognition
I’m going to go back to bed now
scientists thieving bastards but only after he decides to let them have it.
You woke me up again.
I love that one…now, “Shut the f*** off” JK!!
Hmm….also FIGMOH.
FUBAR…but how about Spiro Agnew. Not the Vice-President under Nixon, but the military term. Or Charlie Foxtrot….
Marina, why do we never get to see your sister? Is she your evil, raven haired twin? Was she horribly disfigured in the plane crash? Did her air bags pop? Does she hold the secret to where the family jewels are laid? Are you Siamese, er, Russian twins who were seperated at birth? Will she ever be able to play the piano again? Or do you simply suffer from a split personality, like that nice young fellow Norman, who ran the Bates Motel just off the main highway??? So many questions, so little time…
All those questions you sound like a scientist.
Not only is her absentminded evil twin sister as bright as a pilot light, she’s also a raven lunatic! (And I thought ravens could fly…)
Marina, I think you should explain “booby trap”, lol. I always thought it was the hook and loop system that they put in the back of bras (and just when you got used to that they moved it to the front!). Great old cartoon, BTW. Mel Blanc doing Bugs Bunny’s voice as the soldier. Probably meant for the troops being shipped to North Africa at the time from the desert environment… The Great Patriotic War aka WW2.
SNAFU - SITUATION NORMAL ALL F*UCKED UP
like FUBAR and BOHICA
what is BOHICA??
Another military acronym: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again!
yep, FUBAR it is…
Marina, your sister is hawt…
my girlfriend wants to know where’s the woman’s version of Hot for words?
Wow!
I think this is FUBAR.
I’m getting confused.
Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition ,
Tango and Cash - movie…means what it says,nothing else ….thats its place
FUBAR
We all figured out that the word is FUBAR. One of my all time favorites is used to describe someone who likes to toot his/her own horn: FIGJAM. That acronym means: Fuck I’m Great, Just Ask Me.
Good day all!
Dear teacher
the new addenda was great. Thank you for the piece of old time american cartoon.
Amicalement
Don Felipe
FUBAR - F@@@ED UP BEYOND ALL REPAIR!
I tried to repair those @ signs. Didn’t work.
Snafu: Man that an old cartoon. Never seen it before. You probably had to see it in a movie theather during WWII because of the “sex stuff”. It’s Mel Blanc for sure!
correction: FUBAR fucked up beyond all recognition
FUBAR f*d up beyond all recognition. *bows*
Hi!!
May be: FUCK = ‘Fornication Under Consent of the King’
Hello Marina,
In the military we use the term “FUBR”, Fucked Up Beyond Recognition…I hope this the answer you’re looking for!
- So messed up beyond repair -
irreparable - irreversible - irretrievable - severe - lasting - irrevocable - irremediable - irredeameable - uncorrectable -unsalvageable
- Botched up -
substandard - poor - spoiled - ruined - bungled - slipshod - inferior
Marina
This is what I conjured up I hope that it will increase my grade if not please feel free to state a battle of words just is or isn’t the game for ye’
Greg
Another interesting thing is the “up” in “snafu” and “fuck up”. I’m guessing that the situation must be either standing up or riding on top…
I will use “SNAFU” much more often now!
I guess that’s Buggs Bunny’s voice prior to being associated with Buggs.
How bee-zaaarree!
A lot of the guys associated with the SNAFU cartoons were also associated with Bugs Bunny and the rest. Mel Blanc - Fritz Frehling et al.
fuck’d up beyond all reason FUBAR
fuck’d up more than usual FUMTU
Hi, fubar is the word your looking for. Another great acronym the military gave us is BOHICA, Bend Over Here It Comes Again….lol.
Thanks Forrest
My granddad was a fighter pilot in the South Pacific in ww2, and his plane was called the “Miss Snafu” XD
The acronym FUBAR stands for Fucked up Beyond All Repair…
AceTheBathnound
atbh
What is the meaning and the origin of the word “boondoggle”. In Canada at least, they use this word when talking about government. I almost don’t believe it’s a real word, it might just be something that stupid politicians and reporters started saying one day
Looka hya, mking3.
boondoggle Look up boondoggle at Dictionary.com
1935, Amer.Eng., of uncertain origin, popularized during the New Deal as a contemptuous word for make-work projects for the unemployed. Said to have been a pioneer word for “gadget.”
Thanks for the definition. This doesn’t seem to be the context in which it is used in the media. On the news and in Parliament, it is used in a very negative way, usually when the government is being accused of having screwed something up, such as a gun registry program that was supposed to cost $1million but balloon to a cost of $1billion.
Is the media using this word in the wrong way, has the meaning changed?
Who knows?
The media is(/are) nuts!
FUBAR
WORD REQUEST
I know it is a little difficult to track down etymologies of slang expressions, but I am hoping you can help in this case, as my research has come to a dead end. I write a lot about the sport of boxing and run a website http://www.cyberboxingzone.com and am constantly asked the origin of the following two words that are used in boxing:
Palooka
Tomato Can
both mean essentially the same thing — a lousy fighter.
Palooka was taken by Ham Fisher for his “Joe Palooka” comic strip, but it existed certainly as early as 1923. I have narrowed it down to two theories (both might be wrong) — Palooka was a dance during the Roaring 20s similar to the Charleston. Or, it was simply created by a sportswriter Frank G. Menke circa 1923.
As far as Tomato Can — I don’t have much beyond theory — urban children used to play a game called kick the can (guess the rules!). I suspect Tomato Can was applied to a fighter who usually got “kicked around.”
Help me teacher! And if you need me to send any sources for my prior research just let me know. I think you could deal with these in one knockout of a video! (Yes, lame pun intended).
FWIW, you could check out “tomato can” here.
Wordlover — the wiki is totally useless as to the history of the word– and the guess at the underlying meaning (One characteristic which may account for the use of the “tomato can” metaphor for a bad boxer is the tendency to leak red fluid (tomato juice/blood) when battered) is the first time I have heard that! But thanks for the post — it proves once again how lame the wiki stuff can be.
Hopefully teacher can shed some light on the origin of these synonyms.
Wiki has some good shit, though; that is, if you can look past the NPOV¹ policy. I’ve done some work there and continue to. WP² gets a bad rap because it is frequently vandalised. For example, someone dissed John Siegenthaler in the wiki article and he must’ve got his revenge one way or another. In short, there are over a million articles, not all of them suck, y’know!
¹Neutral Point Of View.
²Wikipedia.
Word Request: Shoplift
hello,
i have a request for the phrase “to be frank.” wht do people say this when they aren’t frank? is there some famous frank guy that everyone wants to be?
thank you
@#%! ! oh!cool!
@#%! hugh thats fine! 
situation normal,
all @#%!ed up.
cool!!!!!!!!
I have a request for the word Dopamine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9COI_ya8cQ&feature =related
it’ FUBAR
FUBAR. For computer systems, most of the demo or learning material usually uses Fubar as the name of a program or object or sample.
Marina,
The other acronym is FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition)
XOXOXOXOXO
George
I recognize that I did not know this word (Yes, i know, one more). I’m really happy to learn a lot of expression on your site.
It’s funny because, here in France SNAFU was the name of an association of students “Super Neurones Associés pour la Finance Universelle. ” It means something like “Super Associated Neurons for Universal Finance”.
Just for kidding, (but it’s true).
Kisses from France…
Bibul
Out on Sunday with some family and got thinking about the word, family.
(F)ather (A)nd (M)other (I) (L)ove (Y)ou.
Loves it!!
Hi,
So I thought it would be a good wordrequest. 
I don’t know what an infidel is. I asked soo many people, but they don’t know what it means.
Word Request:
I was at a large retail hardware/garden center recently and it to brought to mind something that has always troubled me.
Why are “annuals” plants which only last one season and “perennials” listed as those who return year after year?
I though “annual” meant every year, as in The 12th Annual Webby Awards. (for which this site should be a nominee
)
What’s up with that?
Thank you,
Scott
–Origin of SOS–
Excerpt from
The Telegraph Office Magazine
Volume II, Issue 1
“‘SOS,’ ‘CQD’ and the History of Maritime Distress Calls”
by Neal McEwen, K5RW
] Mystery, intrigue as well as misinformation surrounds the origin and use of maritime distress calls. The general populace believes that “SOS” signifies “Save Our Ship.” Casual students of radio history are aware that “CQD” preceded the use of “SOS.” Why were these signals adopted? When were they used? Why did one replace the other? What is one likely to find by digging a little deeper? [
]The first recorded American use of “SOS” was in August of 1909. Wireless operator T. D. Haubner of the SS Arapahoe radioed for help when his ship lost its screw near Diamond Shoals, sometimes called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.[
]It is well documented in personal accounts of Harold Bride, second Radio Officer, and in the logs of the SS Carpathia, that the Titanic first used “CQD” to call for help. When Captain Smith gave the order to radio for help, first radio officer Jack Phillips sent “CQD” six times followed by the Titanic call letters, “MGY.” Later, at Brides suggestion, Phillips interspersed his calls with “SOS.”
[
Not the Titanic as everyone believes.
To save space on HFW blog please read the whole store at:
http://www.telegraph-office.com/pages/arc2-2.html
Yea its a long article but if you keep reading you will find out that ‘XXX’ was used as an urgent signal. I wonder if there is a link to the movie rating X,XX,XXX?
May Day, Pan Pan, Sécurité are still used today. Morse code is no longer used.
~~__/)__~~
Hello all stations (USCG says hello all stations when getting our attention on channel 16), Check out my friends blog posting some basic origins regarding MAYDAY, PAN PAN, SECURITE. Not very detailed but it gets the point across.
http://captrichardrodriguez.blogspot.com/2008/04/h ello-all-stations.html
Also Marinas video about the term 3 sheet to the wind is on his site.
http://captrichardrodriguez.blogspot.com/2008/04/n autical-terms-three-sheets-to-wind.html
Oh I almost forgot. Captain John Baird asked me to post his word request. He wants to know the origin of the word ‘NEWS’. He says it comes from the compass points North, East, West, South. Makes sense but is he correct? I know the answer to this request but I don’t want to spoil the video if you plan to make one.
/)
I am an Army Reservist currently seeing the world using the Uncle Sam travel agency. The other commonly used acronym is FUBAR, as stated above. There is another one: BOHICA, pronounced “bo-he-ka”. What it means is below.
Can any guess, or tell, where the phrase “spring loaded in the dumb position” came from. A hint is: ask a rotorhead.
Lostinhere
PS: BOHICA - Bend Over, Here It Comes Again (we’re screwed!)
Some functions or systems in an aircraft that have a critical effect on the aircraft’s behaviour are protected by a spring-loaded switch which has to be held against the spring’s force to arm or enable their use.
However, as a lifelong rotorhead, I can’t think why this should particularly apply to helicopters unless it has something to do with the sloppy link between the cyclic and the collective controls.
(Don’t worry if you don’t understand the sloppy link joke; it’s a technical reference only the smartest rotorheads will understand)
For a very funny list of other terms for stupidity go to this site.
I never heard of the term sloppy link before. But im still new in the field of that spiny thing over head. I fly RC helis and my models have sloppy links in the control rods to my fly bar.
I still believe in the very old saying that helicopters can not fly, they just beat the air into submission. Oh and yet they can out glide an F-4 phantom any day of the week.
/)
You’ve got it, Jack; a sloppy link is a mechanism used for translating a control input into a hydraulic output. There is no such link between the cyclic and collective in the helicopter’s hardware; the reference is to the pilot’s hands.
Hey Bob, I’m mostly a happy guy, I work hard, am thankful my wife has put up with me 25yrs… thats love.
“Love” The word is hard to define without context, so sorry if you got me or CS Lewis quote misunderstood but that happems alot I find in written communication, especially when space & time limit context.
The 4 loves simply put, can be confused & redifined into many subcategories….ah it’s too complicated. Somebody more famious than me said “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” Nice simple statement, explored, studied, rumminated upon, embraced… for centuries. i love reading the quotes that pop up on this site. Random or Marina picks? anybodies guess eh. cheers
PS best advise I ever got “Be tender hearted and thick skinned”
Word request: LOLLAPALOOSA I think this is one fucked up word and i would like you to tell me where it came from lol
Hey,
Word request: fiasco
Marina, here is a good word to philologize on “inklings”. Oh i got too work tomorrow . Bye
WORD REQUEST: Luxury
Hi Marina, Hi All. I wish to know the origin of word Luxury because it is strange: Luxury is the word used to describe the best style of life, super cars, yatch, armani, versace etc… but “Lux-” is a latin word that means light. Why is there this association between these words?
In italian language Luxury is Lusso and Lust is Lussuria, they have same origin “Luss-”, is there another association between Lusso and Lussuria?
Hey Marina, This sound like an interesting word. Any thoughts on this word?
FUBAR
Fucked up beyond all recognition (relief, repair)
Hey Marina,
My roomate and I were debating the origin of the phrase “rubber match”. this refers to having a third match between two people if they each won one of the first two matches. Or a best out of three concept. Please tell us where this phrase came from. thanks, I love your lessons.
d-bo
Hello
Word request: “malaise”
I have an uneasy feeling about that request….
That was tooooooooooo easy…………FUBAR Fucked up beyond repair!!!!!!!! LMAO
Оно изумительный что большая смотря и говоря русская повелительница smogла быть настолько полезна к гуманности в этих день и время. Я салютую вам. Простите моему плохому русскому, но я пытаюсь улучшить на том больше. Вы воодушевляли меня выполнить более лучше и стать более лучшей персоной. Пожалуйста держите вверх по хорошему слову.
Я также имею один запрос для слов.
«lethologica», пожалуйста расшифровывает для меня начало и причиняет этому явления. Спасибо и объятия и поцелуи… Фред
«Lethologica»—да, доброе слово!
I actually know this one its FUBAR Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition
old cartoons are great
Hi teach
A “great tit” is a bird found in Africa.
A female friend has a number of these birds in her avery.
When I said that she had “great tits” she slapped me.
Was she offended by my grammar???
Maybe HFW should investigate?
Why does the bird - “great tit” have nothing to do with “t.ts” or “titillate”.
lots of love
from australia.
Hello Marina,
How’s it going my favorite teacher!!
Hey I’m a new student here, and I was wondering what do I need to do to become the “Teacher’s pat for the day”?
Oh and my word request is “Love”
What’s origin of the word “Love”
Please please tell me the origin of the word “nemesis”!
Kthxbai.
I’ll try this 1. what’s the origin of the word “May Day”.
today you got your wish, mayday.. Your Favorite cub Sammy Sosa eh? BTW you should ask Marina if she knows who is the Russian Rocket or better yet How he got called that (name origin). Do your Chicago Teams ‘ fans do the wave. I know where that wave thing started. Do you? Cheers
Almost I did but I did not mention why.Not quite Sammy Sosa. My favorite now is Koske Fukudome. I have not a chance to her about the Russian Rocket yet. Yes I we Chicago fans do the wave but I have no idea where? Tell me when you get a chance. Hagn!
http://www.usedvictoria.com/classified-ad/5668656& category=hockey-cards “Soccer” Vancouver Whitecaps. I used to go over to Vancouver Empire stadium & yes the wave was started before 1980 to taunt the opposition as the whitecaps wave at least a year or two before the Oakland A’s claimed to have started it. with crazy George Henderson in April 1981.
Is Kelly P. your regular singer in the 7th inning stretch http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=T0r9hAfGSnU&feature= related
You think your man Koske is better than Seattles’ Ichiro Suzuki… its close? Went to seattle & saw Randy Johnson pitch a game. he mowed my team (Toronto) down all nine innings.power pitching wow. http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=MwYYSd7Sgbs
ic, I would say Kosuke is just getting started. Ichiro is a excellent hitter. Yep, Kosuke is already a fan favorite. What is your you tube name?
Two suggestions for future words.
Cookie, and “y’all”.
Would really love to learn the history of the word y’all!
Ahoy Ahoy. I have 2 words to choose from. Boogeyman & Unbridled.
Thanks, and keep ‘defining’ a new era in teaching.
Hi Marina, I am curious as to the work bologna. My Belgium Grandma pronounced it just as its spelled, while the rest of us call it bolonie. And why does it refer to a flat piece of meat that taste like a hotdog and can also be used in response to what someone has said to you and you respond back ” Oh Bolonie”
Thanks for the learning experience on enriching my work power.
Splinter808
And for tdwnarrows, maybe you should learn how to use the parental controls that can be used for blocking sites for you children? Or you can screen the videos 1st and then let the see the ones you want
Hi Marina,
Acronymph request… higurkejudusavogegadfahenimixajeki
WTF?
I’ve always wondered the Origin of the phrase
“Dropped the Dime”
like to snitch or to tell
I mean what the heck does that have to do with dimes
Forreal
The phrase “Dropped a dime” dates back to when it would cost a dime to make a phone call from a pay phone. So a snitch would “drop a dime” to call and inform to the cops on someone. The phrase didn’t change when payphones went to twenty five cents and then later to even more, the phrase just stuck.
Very interesting.
What about the word “Snitch”?
Fubar=
:::::::::::::::::
F.ucked
U.p
B.eyond
A.ll
R.epair
how about the word “corny”
That answer is FUBAR Fucked up beyond all repair…..
Hi Marina. What’s the origin and meaning of the word “the”?
Thanks
Hello Marina!!!!
Wich is the origin of the word “cameo”?
Kisses from Argentina.
Hello,
My sister used a word the today and I had no idea what it means. Can you help? The word is “Infatuated”. Thank you
Justin
What are you inslimuating?
Of course, unlike the Private Snafu movie, we aren’t fascinated by big, round boobs these days…
Who are you kidding? My neanderthal instincts might argue that point.
zug zug.
Where are you captainjack?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldrxR9X-a3o&feature =related
I is here. Where that might be? Across the 7 seas. In search of true love, a tall ship, and a magic compass to steer them all by.
“May the Winds be at your Back and the Stars to Guide you by.”
~~ _/)_ ~~
Oh, where am I? Exactly? Ok, you asked.
47º38.10′N by 122º20.35′W
You can visit my website for a map of my little sailing yacht.
Just click on my name. Why do you ask? Are your the paparazzi or a G man?
Co-ordinates entered in fire-control system, Sir.
Some nice boats in that MARINA, Jack, but I was wondering how you were going to set a spinnaker on that motor cruiser. (Until I went to your web site)
Aye aye, captain. Those fine twin bouys will mark your passage… now we just need a derivation for “zug zug”…
*chortle*
Did you start out as a buoy scout?
Bob, thats not my motor boat. Its an old photo from Google.
You like the nice boats parked in that MARINA hu? I’m getting very good at parking my boat in the slip. I try to practice as much I can. One weekend I slip it in and out of the MARINA twice in one day. I tried to set the spinnaker but broke the spinner so I only have a naker. Its a bit naked without the spinner.
Lividemerald, No I never was in buoy scouts. I wish I could have joined, but my step mother was very abusive and supportive. She would not let me join.
Presumined, Red buoys are called nuns and Green buoys are called cans. We have some of the best looking cans in the Pacific North West. One day when I was sailing my boat, I came to close and I touched a can. The boom on my boat slapped me on the side of my face.
I learned my lesson on that one I think. 
The answer is F.U.B.A.R. Fucked Up Beyond All Repair. I still would like to know where Stool Pidgeon came from.
Your use of slang was really meaningless and detracted from this video. I do not understand why you introduced the other woman yelling to you. The animals were cute until you used them too much.
I don’t think you were feeling good when you did this one.
As I am sure many people have already said, I think the term you are looking for is FUBAR.
However one of my personal favorites and another common term in the United States military is BOHICA (Bend Over, Here It Comes Again) which is usually used when your commanding officer is reaming you out (ream or reaming being my suggested word) or under similar situations.
Love your outtakes
Word suggestion: how about “computer bug”? or “glitch”?
Thanks!
“Computer bug” would probably make a good game because I’ve heard multiple origins about it.
I too would like to know since I programmed computers for many years. I’m curious what the OED says.
Marian you are such a naughty girl, but your teaching is very instructive. You never have a snafu. That little wink at the end makes me wonder if you are a coquette. Who is coquette and when was it first used to describe one?
FUBAR … Fucked Up Beyond All Reason.