I agree Tony - I think that is how I understood it the first time I heard it. I'd heard FUBR (beyond repair)
FUBAR (beyond all recognition) variants expressed in Hollywood movies (usually comedies) that I saw on
television as a child although any that explained it always said it meant "fouled up..." - which in those days
was not far from the common  sense of it as used by gentle folk.

Also "foo" itself was widely popular in computer software source code by the 1970's - I never gave it much
thought about how it became so popular but it could certainly have the same origin.


Why is there a resistance to FUBAR as the origin? One can readily describe a lame model with the words behind that acronym (whichever word starting with "F" you prefer). It has always seemed to me that "foobie" is a natural descendant. Tony Thomson
--
Tim O'Connor
Sterling, Massachusetts