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Re: Snarge, Snafu

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HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

> 
> 
> 1.  Is it common for words like Snarge  to not be in OED?
> 
> 
> (I found the whole premise of the film [Saving Private Ryan]
>            (sending a 8-man team on a fishing expedition 
>                  because the US military cares about the mother's feelings)
>  to be Woke-induced delusion.)
> 
> 2. Is it believable that a multilingual Word nerd (ace  intelligence officer)
>        in that situation to NOT know what SNAFU  stands for?
> 
> _____________________
> 
> Yes, it is highly common for ultra-niche, highly specialized jargon like "snarge" to be missing from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). While "snarge"—an aviation term combining "snot" and "garbage" to describe the biological remains left on an aircraft after a bird strike—is well-known among pilots and Smithsonian forensic ornithologists, it lacks the broad, multi-industry cultural presence required by major dictionaries.
> 
> _____________________
> 

(2) 

      Yes, it is entirely believable that Corporal Upham did not know what acronyms like SNAFU (Situation Normal: All Fucked Up) or FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition) meant.

While it feels ironic that a literal "word nerd" and translator is the only one left out of the loop, his ignorance highlights the rigid divide between different sectors of the military during World War II.

1. He is an Intellectual Academic, Not a Grunt

Upham is a book-smart intellectual who was pulled directly from a desk job doing map-making and translation work. He is fluent in formal academic languages (French and German) but is completely alienated from combat GI subculture. Military acronyms like SNAFU and FUBAR were vulgar slang coined by frontline infantrymen to mock the chaos and bureaucracy of war. Because Upham had never been closer to the front lines than basic training, he had never been exposed to the colloquial dialect of the common grunt

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Snarge,  Snafu HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-24 20:11 +0000
  Re: Snarge,  Snafu HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-24 20:18 +0000
    Re: Snarge,  Snafu James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-25 05:53 +0000
      Re: Snarge,  Snafu HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-25 07:56 +0000
        Re: Snarge,  Snafu James Dow Allen <user4353@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-25 13:38 +0000
    Re: Snarge,  Snafu David Entwistle <qnivq.ragjvfgyr@ogvagrearg.pbz> - 2026-05-25 08:11 +0000
      Re: Snarge,  Snafu HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-05-25 17:14 +0000
        Re: Snarge, Snafu Tristan Wibberley <tristan.wibberley+netnews2@alumni.manchester.ac.uk> - 2026-07-22 13:49 +0100
          Re: Snarge, Snafu HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-07-28 18:37 +0000
            Re: Snarge, Snafu tfb <tfb@work.it.out> - 2026-07-28 19:58 +0000
          Re: Snarge, Snafu steve g <Sgonedes1977@gmail.com> - 2026-07-31 23:57 -0400
        Re: Snarge,  Snafu George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2026-07-22 22:04 -0400

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