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I am a little confused to ask this question here. I mean this question objectively. In search of English synonyms for the word "disaster", I came across the word "clusterfuck".

clusterfuck
Military term for an operation in which multiple things have gone wrong. [...]

In radio communication or polite conversation (i.e. with a very senior officer with whom you have no prior experience) the term "clusterfuck" will often be replaced by the NATO phonetic acronym "Charlie Foxtrot."

Is there a direct translation of this into German? Google Translator and dict.leo.org are not a great help.

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2 Answers

up vote 10 down vote accepted

You could use "Fiasko", "Debakel" or "Katastrophe".

"Pleite" and "Niederlage" have a quite similar meaning, but without that strong sound. "Vernichtende Niederlage" could also be used. Nowadays even "Fail"/"Epic Fail" are used by the younger generation. While these phrases imply responsibility, "Misere" does not.

"Zwickmühle" describes a situation where every alternative is hopeless.

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3  
"Fiasko" and "Debakel" sound good. "Niederlage" has very different connotations in my opinion; "vernichtende Niederlage" is kind of a synonym for "Waterloo" (or the other way around). – Hendrik Vogt Jun 16 '11 at 8:02
up vote 4 down vote

I'd offer "ein ordentlicher Schlamassel", but it doesn't really have the same ring to it.

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Is it das or der Schlamassel? Or both? – splattne♦ Jun 17 '11 at 10:21
das Schlamassel. There might be regional differences though. – Hellenologophilist Jun 17 '11 at 18:03
According to Wiktionary in Germany it is mostly der Schlamassel while in Austria it is das Schlamassel. – mosaic Dec 19 '11 at 13:28

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