The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) (pronounced /ˈnæfiː/) is a non-profit retaining organisation created by the British government in 1921 to run recreational establishments needed by the Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs clubs, bars, shops, supermarkets, launderettes, restaurants, cafés and other facilities on most British military bases and also canteens on board Royal Navy ships. Commissioned officers are not usually supposed to use the NAAFI clubs and bars, since their messes provide these facilities and their entry, except on official business, is considered to be an intrusion into junior ranks' private lives. This is a concise version of the International Phonetic Alphabet for English sounds. ... A non-profit organization (often called non-profit org or simply non-profit or not-for-profit) can be seen as an organization that doesnt have a goal to make a profit. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Categories: Stub ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... In military organizations, a commissioned officer is a member of the service who derives authority directly from a sovereign power, and as such holds a commission from that power. ... MESS is an acronym for Multiple Emulator Super System. ...

NAAFI personnel serving aboard ship are part of the Naval Canteen Service (NCS), wear naval uniform and have action stations, but remain civilians. NAAFI personnel can also join the Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI), which provides NAAFI facilities in war zones. EFI personnel are members of the Territorial Army serving on special engagements, bear ranks and wear uniform. Action stations is a state of readiness aboard warships in contemporary (and many fictional) navies, including the Royal Navy and many others. ... In the United Kingdom the Territorial Army is a part of the British Army composed of reserve units, or part-time soldiers. ...

NAAFI in British culture

• The 1950s BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show often made reference to the NAAFI in scripts, mostly by Peter Sellers's character, Major Dennis Bloodnok. One episode was entitled The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI.
• The supposed poor quality of its food etc. caused "NAAFI" to become a byword for "bad". Expressions such as "You're as dim as a NAAFI candle" (i.e. stupid) became commonplace. The later slang "naff" may be rooted in "NAAFI", or at least have become conflated with it.
• There is a myth that NAAFI stood for the "No Ambition And Fuck-all Interest" attitude of NAAFI staff, although this was usually accepted to be a joke
• There is another current joke that NAAFI stands for Never Ave Any Fink In, due to the commonplace stock-control problems.

The 1950s were the decade that traditionally speaking, spanned the years 1950 through 1959. ... BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. ... DVD of The Last Goon Show of All, aired by the BBC in 1972. ... Richard Henry Peter Sellers, CBE (September 8, 1925 – July 24, 1980) was an English comedian, actor, and performer, who came to prominence on the BBC radio series The Goon Show. ... The following list of Goon Show episodes includes Goon Show specials: also unaired episodes made for the BBC transcription service, listed at the date of their recording. ... Look up naff in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

External links

• (English) Official website