Posted by BJ
A friend has recently taken a new job and moved from the commercial world to that of defense contracting and the world of government.
Over dinner he was telling my wife and me how difficult it was for him to deal with the difference in language, as in his new place of work profanity was “commonplace, accepted and all but expected.”
I discussed with him my experiences when I had worked in defense and stated that I had a hard time with what I found to be fairly crude language heard on a daily basis as well. We discussed the fact that many commonly used terms, such as “snafu” and “fubar”*, are borne out of and are commonly accepted terms within military circles and it seem they were not considered offensive.
Then most surprisingly, I came upon a headline in my local paper for an article on weddings the next day using one of these terms. The title – “How to Avoid I Do Snafus’.
As I seem to say quite often these days, “maybe it’s just me” but I just don’t think that’s right.
*For a translation of either term, just ask anyone you know who has served in the armed forces or worked for a defense contractor… or even simpler, just google it.
A friend has recently taken a new job and moved from the commercial world to that of defense contracting and the world of government.
Over dinner he was telling my wife and me how difficult it was for him to deal with the difference in language, as in his new place of work profanity was “commonplace, accepted and all but expected.”
I discussed with him my experiences when I had worked in defense and stated that I had a hard time with what I found to be fairly crude language heard on a daily basis as well. We discussed the fact that many commonly used terms, such as “snafu” and “fubar”*, are borne out of and are commonly accepted terms within military circles and it seem they were not considered offensive.
Then most surprisingly, I came upon a headline in my local paper for an article on weddings the next day using one of these terms. The title – “How to Avoid I Do Snafus’.
As I seem to say quite often these days, “maybe it’s just me” but I just don’t think that’s right.
*For a translation of either term, just ask anyone you know who has served in the armed forces or worked for a defense contractor… or even simpler, just google it.
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