FUBAR

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For other uses, see FUBAR (disambiguation).

FUBAR is an acronym that commonly means "fucked up beyond all/any recognition", or one of many variations (see below). It is attested in the United States Army and other military settings.

1 Variations
2 Etymology
3 Related usage
4 Related acronyms
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Variations

For purposes of euphemism, "fucked" is sometimes replaced with "fouled".

Depending on situation or habit, "all recognition" can be replaced with "any repair", "any redemption", "all reality", "all repair", "all recovery", or "all reason". Once the concept is understood, the specific words are irrelevant.

[edit] Etymology

Electronics engineers say that SNAFU and FUBAR were used before World War II by repairmen sent out to repair phone booths. They had to report the situation at arrival to the scene, often on a very bad line, so they developed these acronyms to make themselves understood.^{[citation needed]}

Computer engineers (esp. those working in the early era of computing) also claimed that FUBAR was an acronym for Failed Unibus Address Register.^{[citation needed]}.

"Foo" appeared in a 1938 Warner Bros. Daffy Duck cartoon and the comic strip Smokey Stover, and bar was a popular English word long before that. FUBAR may have been influenced by the German word furchtbar, meaning terrible. It is pronounced with a soft cht, and probably made the transition during World War II.<ref name=rfc3092>Network Working Group. RFC 3092 - Etymology of "Foo". 1 April 2001. [Note: despite April Fool's Day release, appears to contain reasonable information.]</ref>

It is also possible that foobar is a phonological interpretation of the first letters of the Runic alphabet. Like Qwerty and Abcde, this expression might have attracted various computer programmers. In a museum at Aarhus, there is a large wooden bar with the runic inscription f u þ a r, where fu is pronounced like foo. However, the letter þ is actually pronounced like an unvoiced th, not a b (hence the name Futhark for the Runic alphabet).^{[citation needed]} ....

[edit] Related usage

One of the most popular hacker/demo groups on the Commodore 64 scene in the mid 1980s was FBR – "Fucked Beyond Repair".

Podshow has FUBAR Fridays. At 5 o'clock, all the workers stop what they are doing, hang up all the phones, and have an end of the week party.

In the 1980's, Scottish ski-schools routinely classified pupils in one of two categories: FDB (First Day Beginner); FBR (Fucked Beyond Repair)

[edit] Literature

F.U.B.A.R.: America's Right-Wing Nightmare (2006) is a book by Sam Seder and Stephen Sherrill.
"The Fubar Suit" (1997) is the title of a science fiction short story by Stephen Baxter.

[edit] Movies

In the 1944 U.S. Army animated short The Three Brothers (directed by Friz Freleng), a character named Fubar is a brother of Private Snafu and Tarfu.
The term was used in the movie Tango and Cash (1989).
In "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) the term is used by the soldiers in Captain Miller's squad. Corporal Upham, their interpreter, is unfamiliar with it and the others jokingly tell him it's German. He is later shown looking in his German dictionary and remarking,"Hey, I looked up FUBAR in the German dictionary and there's no FUBAR in there."
FUBAR is also the title of a 2002 Canadian mockumentary.

[edit] Place names

There is a nightclub in Stirling, Scotland called "The Fubar".
Oxford Brookes University (UK) 's Wednesday night party is called FUBAR
A bar/ dance club in Waterloo, Canada is called FUBAR. Located at the University Plaza between University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Chester University, Warrington Campus's (UK) Student Union bar is called the FuBar (Friendly Union Bar)

[edit] Computer games

Outcast by Infogrames (1999), quote by lead character Cutter Slade: "I think this places this mission just south of FUBAR!"
"Half-Life: Opposing Force" by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation (1999), quote from fellow Marines: "This mission is way beyond FUBAR!"
"Quake 4" by Raven Software (2005), quote by Lt. Voss: "This situation is looking seriously FUBAR-ED!"
"Halo: Combat Evolved" by Bungie Studios (2001), quote by Sergeant Johnson upon death of the player: "We are FUBAR!", or by marines upon death of the player: "We are so totally FUBAR!".
Stronghold by Firefly studios (1999), Clicking on a drunk man from an inn a number of times will say his occupation is "FUBAR!".
Freedom Fighters (computer game) by IO Interactive (2003), After his boat is partially sunk by Russian Mi-24s on the final assault on Governor's Island, a resistance soldier comments to the player, "This whole operation is FUBAR, may as well pack it up and go home!"
Full Spectrum Warrior by Pandemic, has a quote by a Jewish Philadelphian 'smart-ass' squad member; "If we ain't careful, the whole mission will be FUBAR."
Gears of War by Epic Games, has the character Baird saying "things are FUBAR over here!" after being asked how things were going by Marcus Fenix.

[edit] Related acronyms

There are a number of slang army acronyms that are related to FUBAR. A somewhat standard group in no particular order is:

SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked Up
FUBAR - Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition
BOHICA - Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up
JANFU - Joint Army/Navy Fuck-Up

Others include the following:^{[citation needed]}

SAPFU - Surpasses All Previous Fuck Ups
SUSFU - Situation Unchanged, Still Fucked Up
FUMTU - Fucked Up More Than Usual
FUBB - Fucked Up Beyond Belief
TOFU - Things Ordinary: Fucked Up
GFU - General Fuck Up
SAMFU - Self Adjusting Military Fuck Up
TUIFU - The Ultimate In Fuck Ups
FUGAZI - Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In; Refers to out-of-control situation such as a chaotic jungle warfare combat environment
FUNDY - Fucked Up, Not Dead Yet; on British medical charts<ref name=bbcswear>"The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-Words". Web Article BBC, 2002.</ref>
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
FUBER - Fucked Up Beyond Economic Repair
MOAFU - Mother Of All Fuck Ups
BEIFT - Behold, Every Indicator Forebodes Trouble; pronounced "beefed"