Editing SNAFU (section)

==Origin==
Most reference works, including the ''[[Random House Unabridged Dictionary]]'', supply an origin date of 1940–1944, generally attributing it to the [[U.&nbsp;S. Army|U.S. Army]]. [[Rick Atkinson]] ascribes the origin of ''SNAFU'', ''[[FUBAR]]'', and many other terms to cynical [[GI (military)|GIs]] ridiculing the army's penchant for acronyms.<ref>''The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943–1944'' (part of ''The Liberation Trilogy'') by [[Rick Atkinson]].</ref>

The first known publication of the term was by ''[[The Kansas City Star]]'', on July 27, 1941.<ref>{{cite news |title=Snafu, and All's Well |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kansas-city-star-snafu/122568792/ |work=The Kansas City Star |date=July 27, 1941 |location=Kansas City, MO |page=5 |access-date=April 9, 2023 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Open access}}</ref> It was subsequently recorded in ''[[American Notes and Queries]]'' in the September 1941 issue (which the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' in 1986 credited as the term's first appearance).<ref name="OED">''A Supplement to the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', R. W. Burchfield, ed., Volume IV Se-Z, 1986.</ref> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine used the term in its June 16, 1942, issue: "Last week U.S. citizens knew that gasoline rationing and rubber requisitioning were snafu."<ref name="OED" /> 

The attribution of ''SNAFU'' to the American military is not universally accepted: it has also been attributed to the British,<ref>''Rawson's Dictionary of Euphemisms and Other Doubletalk.'' [[Chicago, IL]] 2002, Hugh Rawson.</ref> although the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives its origin and first recorded use as U.S. military slang.<ref name="OED"/>

In a wider study of military slang, Elkin noted in 1946 that there "are a few acceptable substitutes such as 'screw up' or 'mess up,' but these do not have the emphasis value of the obscene equivalent." He considered the expression to be "a caricature of Army direction. The soldier resignedly accepts his own less responsible position and expresses his cynicism at the inefficiency of Army authority." He also noted that "the expression […] is coming into general civilian use."<ref>{{Citation| last= Elkin| first= Frederick| date=March 1946 |title= The Soldier's Language| journal= American Journal of Sociology| volume= 51| issue= 5 Human Behavior in Military Society| publisher= The University of Chicago Press| pages= 414–422| jstor= 2771105 |doi=10.1086/219852| s2cid= 144746694}}</ref>