get the snafu

[Dan Goncharoff]

Is the snafu a misread of strafe? I believe there are uses of 'strafe' that
don't require airplanes to be involved.

DanG


On Wed, Apr 30, 2014 at 7:36 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: get the snafu
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Apr 30, 2014, at 6:46 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> > Jon,
> >
> > The sense seems a little off from the typical, e.g. OED C. n. "A
> > confusion [etc.]"  Would snipers cause "confusion"?
> >
> > Joel
>
> It might depend on what part of one's brain their bullets connect with.
>
> LH
>
> >
> > At 4/29/2014 06:28 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> >> A new one on me. And note primitive spelling:
> >>
> >> 1943 _Racine Journal-Times_ (Sept. 19) 4: "They probably got the snafoo
> >> from a German patrol," said the driver. "These hills are full of
> Germans.
> >> Particularly snipers."
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org