clusterfuck

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Alternative spellings 1.2 Etymology 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Synonyms 1.3.2 See also

[edit] English

[edit] Alternative spellings

• cluster fuck

[edit] Etymology

Reportedly coined by the hippie poet Ed Sanders in the 1960s, in the form Mongolian clusterfuck; it was frequently used in the military.

[edit] Noun

clusterfuck (plural clusterfucks)

1. (vulgar) A chaotic mess that might be compared to group sex, in which participants are so intertwined and intermingled that they might penetrate each other rather than their intended target. Its more precise usage describes a particular kind of Catch-22, in which multiple complicated problems mutually interfere with each other's solution. The looser usage, referring to any chaotic situation, probably prevails.
   • 1989: P. J. O'Rourke, Holidays in Hell ^{p. 216}

     "Mongolian Cluster Fuck" is the technical term journalists use for a preplanned, wholly scripted, news-free event.

   • 1994: James O'Barr / Alex Proyas, The Crow

     A simple sweep-and-clear turned into a total clusterfuck: T-Bird, trying to explain to Eric how the situation escalated on Devil's Night [...]

   • 1995: John Barnes, Mother of Storms

     Please note also my request that henceforth I wish to be reminded of the possibility of a clusterfuck in any contingency plan or operations proposal [...]

   • 2004: Jon Stewart, America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide To Democracy Inaction

     [...] and you will still only begin to get a sense of the constitutionally mandated clusterfuck that is the modern presidency.

   • 2005: Charles W. Sasser, Patton's Panthers: The African-American 761st Tank Battalion in World War II

     It was a clusterfuck, a deadly clusterfuck. When the doughs finally got off the ground in some numbers and charged into the woods, the Krauts broke contact [...]

   • 2008: Joel & Ethan Coen, Burn after Reading

     Jesus, what a clusterfuck!. When CIA chief (J.K.Simmons) finally comments all the mess which nobody ever understood fully [...]

   • 2008: Jon Stewart, "Clusterfuck to the Poorhouse."

[edit] Synonyms

• Charlie Foxtrot
• CF
• cluster foxtrot

[edit] See also

• cluster fuck - for the US military etymology
• FUBAR
• rape
• fuck