With FUBAR, Arnold Schwarzenegger makes his television debut. In the Netflix show, which quickly rose to the top of the charts, the former governor and Top Gun: Maverick(Monica Barbaro) play a father and daughter who discover that they are each secret agents of the CIA. There’s shootings and chases and faintly true lies-y humor. But what does the all caps title mean?
If you don’t know, then obviously you’ve never been in the military or watched too few military movies. As an acronym, FUBAR has several meanings, but the most commonly used is “F*cked Up Beyond All Repair”. Sometimes the R stands for “Recognition”. The etymology of the term is unclear, but it is thought to have its origins in World War II. Some stories replace “F*cked” with the more family-friendly “Fouled.”
Some people change it to an even more outspoken “F*cked Up By Assholes in the Rear.”
Like most slang, FUBAR has come and gone. It resurfaced in the 1970s when it found its way into the language of leadership, used by corporate executives, not soldiers describing the danger they find themselves in and/or executives who have put their lives in danger. He came back thanks to movies like Tango & Money in the late 80s and Saving Private Ryan at the end of the 90s.
And now it’s back, all thanks to Ah-nuld.
FUBAR is now streaming on Netflix.