You’ve already got your answer, but the answer itself was revealed near the end of “Saving Private Ryan” itself. Just before the Germans attack, you’ll hear Jeremy Davies (I think) repeat the meaning of the phrase after he’s been told.
I think RTFM dates from before computers (at least before the “Information Age”). My dad used to use RTFI and RTFQ (“instructions” and “question”, respectively) when I was a kid. And I was born in the Space Age (before the Information Age).
I recall that Partridge referred to SNAFU as artificial slang' though I don't think he explains what this means. Did the army make this up, like with Sammies’?
‘Sammies’?
I always thought the order of severity was…
SNAFU - Situation Normal, All Fcked Up
TARFU - Things Are Really Fcked Up
FUBAR - F*cked Up Beyond All Repair
Along those lines I heard the following meanings for college degrees…
B.S. - Bullsht
M.S. - More Sht
Ph.D. - Piled High and Deeper
since we’re giving out military acronyms:
US Army = Uncle Sam Ain’t Released Me Yet
US Army backwards = Yes My Retarded Ass Signed Up
Marine = Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Non-Existent
or Not Expected
and everyone knows what MRE really stands for…
Meals Ready to Excrete
Actually… I like MREs!
But I was never required to eat them.
Couple of highly offensive ones
WAFU = Wank all f***ing use
FRISP = F***ing Repulsive ignorant Scots Pig (that’ll get me into trouble)
FBG = F***ing big gun - as in Enemy-sighted fire the BFG
Foxtrot Oscar = Go away
Xgemina said:
My grunt friends in the Canadian Armed Forces claim that it stands for "Meals Refused by Ethiopians."
I can’t believe that after all of the Acronyms floating about in this post no one mentioned one of my personal favorites…
JAFO : Just another Fu*king Observer
…courtesy of my brother in the Navy.
My
Ass
Rides
In
Navy
Equipment
Fuck
It.
Drive
On
Will not comment…will not comment…
Radar ralf sez:
Had I known THIS, guess what my user name would have been…
I thought FUBAR was Fucked Up By Army Regulations.
I am such a dork.
The Falcon codes were used over the radio so that no profanity was bouncing around the air waves that could be picked up by tender ears. Another of my favorites (don’t remember any of the numbers, though) was: “If the XO thinks it’s such a shit hot idea, send his ass to Gitmo!”