Military slang is an array of colloquial terminology
used commonly by US military personnel, including
slang which is unique to or originates with
the armed forces. It often takes the form
of abbreviations/acronyms or derivations of
the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, or otherwise incorporates
aspects of formal military concepts and terms.
Military slang is often used to reinforce
or reflect interservice rivalries.
Acronym slang
A number of military slang terms are acronyms.
Rick Atkinson ascribes the origin of SNAFU,
FUBAR, and a bevy of other terms to cynical
GIs ridiculing the Army's penchant for acronyms.
SNAFU
SNAFU stands for the sarcastic expression
situation normal: all fucked up. It is a well-known
example of military acronym slang, though
it is sometimes bowdlerized to all fouled
up or similar. It means the situation is bad,
but that is a normal state of affairs.
The acronym is believed to have originated
in the United States Marine Corps during World
War II. However, attribution to the American
military is not universally accepted. It has
also been attributed to the British. Most
reference works, including the Random House
Unabridged Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary,
supply an origin date of 1940–1944, generally
attributing it to the US military.
Time magazine used the term in their June
16, 1942 issue: "Last week U.S. citizens knew
that gasoline rationing and rubber requisitioning
were snafu." Frederick Elkin noted in 1946
that there "are a few acceptable substitutes
such as 'screw up' or 'mess up,' but these
do not have the emphasis value of the obscene
equivalent." He considered the expression
SNAFU to be "a caricature of Army direction.
The soldier resignedly accepts his own less
responsible position and expresses his cynicism
at the inefficiency of Army authority." He
also noted that "the expression ... is coming
into general civilian use."
In modern usage, snafu is sometimes used as
an interjection, though it is mostly now used
as a noun. Snafu also sometimes refers to
a bad situation, mistake, or cause of trouble.
It is more commonly used in modern vernacular
to describe running into an error or problem
that is large and unexpected. For example,
in 2005, The New York Times published an article
titled "Hospital Staff Cutback Blamed for
Test Result Snafu".
SUSFU is a variant of SNAFU. SNAFU and SUSFU
were first recorded in American Notes and
Queries in their September 1941 issue.
FUBAR
FUBAR stands for fucked up beyond all recognitionreason.
Like SNAFU and SUSFU, it dates from World
War II. The Oxford English Dictionary lists
Yank, the Army Weekly magazine as its earliest
citation: "The FUBAR squadron. ‥ FUBAR?
It means 'Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition."
FUBAR BUNDY
FUBAR BUNDY is an ambulance term meaning fucked
up beyond all recognition but unfortunately
not dead yet.
TARFU
TARFU stands for totally and royally fucked
up or things are really fucked up. The 1944
U.S. Army animated shorts Three Brothers and
Private Snafu Presents Seaman Tarfu In The
Navy, feature the characters Private Snafu,
Private Fubar, and Seaman Tarfu.
JANFU
JANFU stands for joint army-navy fuck up.
BOHICA
BOHICA stands for bend over, here it comes
again. It is an item of acronym slang which
grew to regular use amongst the United States
armed forces during the Vietnam War. It is
used colloquially to indicate that an adverse
situation is about to repeat itself, and that
acquiescence is the wisest course of action.
It is commonly understood as a reference to
being sodomized. An alternative etymology
relates the expression to the days of sail
and avoiding being struck by the boom, which
would swing around the mast due to shifts
in wind or the vessel's course. Although it
originated in the United States military forces,
and is still commonly used by United States
Air Force fighter crew chiefs and armament
crews, its usage has spread to civilian environments,
used to describe unavoidable, unpleasant situations
that have inconvenienced someone before and
are about to yet again.
FIGMO
FIGMO describes a person, especially one who
has a short remaining time on station, who
has a lax attitude toward their work. The
acronym stands for 'Fuck it, I've got my orders'.
The set of orders implied are transfer or
release orders, and once you have those it
doesn't matter much what your current commanding
officer thinks of you any longer.
FUBB
FUBB, according to Gordon L. Rottman's FUBAR:
Soldier Slang of World War II, was a term
used by American soldiers and Marines during
the war. It may either stand for 'fucked up
beyond belief' or 'fouled up beyond belief.'
Other
Military brat, brat etc. refers to the child
of a serving Officer/Soldier. Mainly heard
referring to U.S. military children. Refers
to the child of someone in that branch of
the service.
ROAD Retired on active duty refers to active
duty military personnel who have already earned
a 20 year retirement or actually have received
retirement orders and perform the minimum
work they are able to do without being disciplined.
See also
List of government and military acronyms
List of U.S. government and military acronyms
List of United States Marine Corps acronyms
and expressions
List of U.S. Navy acronyms and expressions
List of U.S. Air Force acronyms and expressions
Grande Armée slang
Voice procedure
References
Further reading
Hakim, Joy. A History of Us: War, Peace and
all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6. 
Jacobson, Gary. "Humor best way to remove
last of 'Bohicans' resistance". The Dallas
Morning News. p. 7H. Retrieved 7 November
2008. 
Stromberg, Rich. "Grab your ankles and say
BOHICA". UWIRE. Retrieved 7 November 2008. 
External links
Glossary of Military Terms & Slang from the
Vietnam War
Military Terms of the Modern Era
Military Slang Acronyms and Abbreviations
The dictionary definition of Appendix:Australian
English military slang at Wiktionary
The dictionary definition of Appendix:Canadian
military slang at Wiktionary
The dictionary definition of Appendix:U.S.
Navy slang at Wiktionary
