SNAFU

See also: snafu

English

Alternative forms

• snafu

Etymology

The term was born during the Second World War as an acronym of the initials of the words situation normal, all fucked up, which summed up the chaos and confusion of the war from an individual soldier’s point of view.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: snă'fo͞o, 'snăfo͞o, IPA^(key): /snæˈfuː/, /ˈsnæfuː/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: snă'fo͞o, 'snăfo͞o, IPA^(key): /snæˈfu/, /ˈsnæfu/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -uː, -ɑːfuː

Phrase

SNAFU

1. (military, slang, euphemistic) Acronym of status nominal all fucked up or situation normal all fucked up (fouled up)

Noun

SNAFU (plural SNAFUs)

1. A confused, muddled, or messed-up condition or state; a ridiculously chaotic situation; confusion or chaos regarded as the normal state.
2. A major glitch or breakdown; a mistake or blunder.
   • 2007, Susan Glairon, Paperwork SNAFU, The Daily Times-Call, LongmontFYI

     Because of a paperwork snafu, he also hasn’t been able to get his Army discharge papers and is still listed as an active-duty soldier…

Translations

confused, muddled, or messed-up condition or state; ridiculously chaotic situation

• Bulgarian: бъркотия (bg) f (bǎrkotija), хаос (bg) m (haos)
• Finnish: hässäkkä (fi)
• French: bordel (fr) m, merdier (fr) m
• German: tanzendes Chaos n, Chaos (de) n
• Hungarian: zűrzavar (hu), káosz (hu), rumli (hu), összevisszaság (hu)
• Polish: bałagan (pl) m, burdel (pl) m, rozpierducha f, sajgon (pl) m, bajer (pl) m
• Russian: пу́таница (ru) f (pútanica), неразбери́ха (ru) f (nerazberíxa), барда́к (ru) m (bardák), ералаш (ru) m (jeralaš)
• Spanish: confusión (es), caos (es) m

major glitch or breakdown

• Finnish: sotku (fi)
• German: Patzer (de) m (colloquial)
• Hungarian: zűr (hu), gebasz (hu) (colloquial or slang)
• Polish: potknięcie, wpadka (pl) f, obsuwa f (colloquial)
• Russian: ошибка (ru) f (ošibka), ляп (ru) m (ljap), косяк (ru) m (kosjak) (slang)

Related terms

• FUBAR

See also

• Article on a military training cartoon character: Private Snafu, by Frank Capra in 1942. The stories were written by Theodor Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss).

Anagrams

• Fusan, fauns, saunf