It is an old US military term that means “F*ked Up Beyond All Recognition”

But you probably have seen the standard example variable names "foo" and "bar" which (together at least) come from `fubar`

Which are in fact unrelated.

Unclear. ‘Foo’ has a life and origin of its own and is well attested in MIT culture going back to the 1930s for sure, but it seems pretty likely that it’s counterpart ‘bar’ appears in connection with it as a comical allusion to FUBAR.

Foobar == "Fucked up beyond all recognition "

Even the acronym is fucked.

My favorite by a large margin...

Interestingly, it was "Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition" when it first appeared in print back towards the end of World War 2.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_slang_terms#F...

Not to be confused with "Foobar" which apparently originated at MIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foobar

TIL, an interesting footnote about "foo" there:

'During the United States v. Microsoft Corp. trial, evidence was presented that Microsoft had tried to use the Web Services Interoperability organization (WS-I) as a means to stifle competition, including e-mails in which top executives including Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer referred to the WS-I using the codename "foo".[13]'

What people would print and what soldiers would say in the 1940s were likely somewhat divergent.

100%

FUBAR being a bit worse than SNAFU: "situation normal: all fucked up" which is the usual state of us-east-1

My favorite is JANFU: Joint Army-Navy Fuck-Up.

"FUBAR" comes up in the movie Saving Private Ryan. It's not a plot point, but it's used to illustrate the disconnect between one of the soldiers dragged from a rear position to the front line, and the combat veterans in his squad. If you haven't seen the movie, you should. The opening 20 minutes contains one of the most terrifying and intense combat sequences ever put to film.

Honestly not sure if this is a joke I'm not in on.

There are documented uses of FUBAR back into the '40s.

What do you mean? The movie storyline takes place in 44 at the Battle of Normandy.

I must've misread. I thought you said that it comes from the movie rather than comes up in the movie.

It used to be quite common but has fallen out of usage.

FUBAR: Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition

Somewhat common. Comes from the US military in WW2.

Yes, although it's military in origin.