28 Aug /13

Snafu

Snafu is an acronym for “situation normal all fouled up”, meaning that things are bad, but that this is nothing unusual. Readers may recognise this as a sanitised version, and to learn more about conveying information inoffensively, look out for tomorrow’s word of the day; bowdlerise.

It’s no surprise that a word describing terrible normality originated during wartime, and this one was first recorded in American Notes and Queries in September 1941. America’s entry into the war only two months later would offer countless opportunities to use the word, and American soldiers would often laconically comment that their situation was bad, but normal.

The word was soon popularised by a series of animated shorts featuring Private Snafu, a walking demonstration of how not to be a soldier. Often killed as a result of his own stupidity, the character kept cartoonists busy for the remainder of the war.

Snafu gradually developed as a noun denoting confusion or technical failing. In 2002 Snafu Comics launched a series of characters who constantly played mind-numbing video games. Perhaps we’re lucky that the Snafu problems of our generation are caused by boredom and not by world war.