What does snafu mean in the military

A misguided idea alone does not produce a clusterfuck. The idea also needs a champion determined to shove it along, usually over the objections of more-knowledgeable underlings. When errors of information and timing meet blatantly stupid decisions by people who should know better , disaster tends to ensue.

Nobody likes to spoil the heady euphoria of an exciting new project by discussing the possibility of failure. The antidote to clusterfuckery, Sutton argues, is a willingness to confront the possibility of failure and disappointment built into every new venture, and to plan accordingly. He cites a favored decision-making tactic of the Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman who in turn credits it to psychologist Gary Klein.

One is assigned to imagine a future in which the project is an unmitigated success. The other is to envision its worst-case scenario. Imagining failure and thinking backwards to its causes helps groups identify the strengths and weaknesses of their current plans, and adjust accordingly. By providing your email, you agree to the Quartz Privacy Policy. Skip to navigation Skip to content. Discover Membership. Editions Quartz. 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. TARFU stands for totally and royally fucked up or things are really fucked up. The U. It is an item of acronym slang which grew to regular use amongst the United States armed forces during the Vietnam War.

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.

Military brat , or branch brat, such as Army brat, Navy brat. Refers to the child of someone in that branch of the service. Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Raaen, Jr. Project maintenance. Register Don't have an account? More from Merriam-Webster on snafu Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for snafu. Get Word of the Day daily email!

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