I decided to look it up.
So… During World War II, soldiers in the trenches and barracks often faced really chaotic situations.
To cope, they developed their own slang, full of dark humor.
One term that became particularly popular was “FUBAR,” which they used to describe situations that were completely and hopelessly messed up.
Alan Turing was acquainted with this term.
While leading the team at Bletchley Park to crack the German Enigma code, Turing and his colleagues often encountered incredibly frustrating technical problems.
Whenever a machine malfunctioned or a code proved exceptionally difficult, they’d say it was “FUBAR.”
This use of humor helped maintain a good climate in hard situations.
Years later, early computer scientists like Bob Bemer began using “foo” and “bar” as placeholders in their examples, unknowingly echoing Turing’s approach to make fun when under pressure.
And what does “FUBAR” really stand for?
The soldiers’ slang was much less sanitized:
“F**ked Up Beyond All Recognition.”
So when we use foo and bar that’s what we’re referring to!
I didn’t know it before today.
Did you?
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