What does ‘FUBAR’ mean in the Netflix Show? Meaning explained

FUBAR has everything that makes a spy comedy. It’s loud and messy with lots of action sequences. Oh, and also one-liners that are pretty memorable. The legend Arnold Schwarzenegger is back doing what he does best. He is wreaking havoc by blowing things up and throwing punches, and delivering some good old school charm we all know and love him for.

This Netflix show feels like a modern take on his movie, True Lies. It's not technically a sequel, but it does have a lot in common. In FUBAR, Arnold plays a spy who is on the brink of retirement. He’s ready to hang up the gadgets and live his life quietly. But surprise, surprise... retirement has to wait. Because his daughter turns out to be a spy too, and she’s been keeping that secret from him. Just like he did.

So now we’ve got father and daughter, both trained and stubborn, trying to complete a mission and figure out their relationship, which probably has some fixing to do. But the comedy provides some good relief from it all. The show is full of moments where things spiral out of control. Or, to put it simply… it’s full-on FUBAR.

But what does the word actually mean? You’ve probably heard the term tossed around, but never really stopped to understand it. Well, let’s break it down.

FUBAR: What does it actually mean?

FUBAR isn’t a word to be taken lightly. It’s actually a term that goes way back, all the way to World War II.

Originally, it was a military slang. It was used by soldiers to describe situations that were completely out of control. The official and cleaned-up version is “Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.” But now it’s often used as “F*ed Up Beyond All Repair” or “Recognition.”

The term really made itself popular in pop culture thanks to its use in movies like 1989’s Tango & Cash and Saving Private Ryan. In both of these movies, soldiers dealing with mayhem use the word. So if it feels familiar while watching the Netflix show, that's why. You’ve heard it before.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known use of the word goes back to the 1940s in the middle of WWII. And the Cambridge Dictionary puts it as:

“Extremely bad or certain to fail or be defeated or destroyed.”

Basically, when things go FUBAR, they go really wrong.

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