Snafu: The Military Acronym That Went Mainstream
Summary: From GI shorthand to everyday speech meaning a bungled situation.
In this post:
- What “snafu” means and where it came from
- How people used it in the 1940s
- Modern equivalents and pop-culture examples
- Related slang to explore next
What does “snafu” mean?
SNAFU originally stood for “Situation Normal: All Fouled Up,” a wry WWII expression for chaos.
How it was used in the 1940s
Postwar, civilians used it for any muddle: “The schedule’s a snafu—let’s regroup.”
Modern equivalents
• mess
• mix‑up
• foul‑up