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Look up FUBAR in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
FUBAR is an acronym that commonly means "fucked up beyond all repair," "fucked up beyond all recognition," or any of a number of similar constructions. It originated in the United States armed forces, but its usage has spread to colloquial use.
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Etymology and history
The Oxford English Dictionary lists Yank, the Army Weekly magazine (1944, 7 Jan. p. 8) as its earliest citation: "The FUBAR Squadron...FUBAR? It means 'Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition.'"
In the 1944 U.S. Army animated short The Three Brothers (directed by Friz Freleng),[1] a character named Fubar is a brother of Private Snafu (Situation Normal, All Fucked Up)[2] and Tarfu (Things Are Really Fucked Up, or Totally and Royally Fucked Up).
In 1980 FUBAR also appears in an apparent example of geek humor, as the acronym for the Failed UniBus Address Register in the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX-11/780 Unibus adapter (DW780).[3]
The 1989 movie Tango and Cash re-popularised the phrase FUBAR. It was used by one of the lead characters (Kurt Russell's Gabriel Cash) on several occasions. It has also made appearances in the 1998 Steven Spielberg's World War II movie Saving Private Ryan by Tom Hanks character, in the 2007 British movie 28 Weeks Later, heard on a USA military radio conversation and in episode 4 of the second season of the Showtime series 'Dexter' ('See-through') the boat of a black-ops soldier is also called 'S.S. FUBAR'.
See also
References
- ^ "The Three Brothers Friz Freleng (motion picture)". Library of Congress. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200025794/default.html. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
- ^ Pietro Shakarian. "Situation Normal All Fucked Up:A History of Private Snafu". goldenagecartoons.com. http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/miscelooneyous/snafu/. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
- ^ "VAX Hardware Handbook," page 373. Digital Equipment Corporation, 1980.
External links
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