Re: Etymological query

Subject: Re: Etymological query
From: M Carl Drott <drott -at- DUNX1 -dot- OCS -dot- DREXEL -dot- EDU>
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1993 09:22:28 EDT

Hugh Rawson, in A Dictionary of Euphemisms and other Doubletalk (1981)
lists fubar along with a dozen other fu's under the heading snafu. He
credits snafu to "...some unsung genius in the British army about 1940
..."(p260). I didn't find an entry in Brewer's Dictionary. The OED
Supplement ignores fubar but considers snafu American.

Foo as a computer term rings a distant bell but I wouldn't swear to it. I
have heard the same thing (code that is written for one time use only)
referred to as Kleenex code (or Kode). The derivation seems obvious.

M. Carl Drott
Drexel University


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