Snarky

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7407
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Snarky

Postby Dr. Goodword » Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:03 pm

• snarky •


Pronunciation: snah(r)-ki • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Irritable, snappy, cranky, grumpy.

Notes: The noun from which today's Good Word is derived is a bit snarky itself from being ignored for a century or so. (See Word History for which noun it is.) The adjective, however, is still alive and well with a healthy, happy family. It may be compared as snarkier and snarkiest, while snarkiness is the stuff that makes us snarky. You may behave snarkily, too, on a bad hair day.

In Play: The English language presents us with so many words to express being out of sorts, it is a pleasant surprise to find one that isn't a cliché: "I'm not surprised that Parker Carr is a bit snarky with Rita; she treats him like her personal valet." Of course, we all have those moments: "Well, yes, Andy Doat did get a bit snarky when Leticia spilled the beans on his new toupee." (This sentence works with either meaning of beans.)

Word History: Snarky is remindful of the target in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark, the imaginary animal that cohabits an island with the jubjub, bandersnatch, and jabberwock. However, it is unrelated. Today's Good Word comes from Middle Germanic snarken "snore, snort", found today in Swedish snarka "to snore" and German schnarchen "to snore". A German dialectal variant, Schnorchel "nose" (= snorer) gave us snorkel. By the 1880s it had come to mean "to grumble or complain" and by 1906 it emerged with today's meaning. (This lexical sparkler among the dull and dreary words meaning "cranky" came from Christine Casalini, an editor and writer living in Boston.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8014
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: Snarky

Postby Slava » Thu Jun 22, 2023 7:37 pm

I think we can also say simply 'snark' for snarkiness. At least that's how I think of it, and it's also the version that's acceptable to my spellchecker.

A dose of snark can be quite pleasant to read, at least when it's aimed at those you don't agree with. The humor of Alexandra Petri at the WaPo is at times full of it.

She also just reminded me of a great, angry word; frumious. Invented by Lewis Carroll.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 15 guests