Linguistic question

[kellinator]

Does anyone know where, when, or how the word "snarky" came about? I don't remember hearing it until just a very few years ago, and now it's everywhere. Especially if you're talking to me. ;)

I love the snark. The snark is good.

Because I can always tie something back to "Homicide: Life on the Street":

Kellerman: "You sure you want me with you?"
Bayliss: "Yeah, sure, why not?"
Kellerman: "I dunno, the last time we worked together you were kinda...snarky."
Bayliss: "Snarky?"
Kellerman: "Yeah, snarky, you know, from the ancient Greek, meaning 'butthead?'"

(hear it at http://www.schlock.net/hsounds.html)

Comments

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

According to dictionary.com:

[From dialectal snark, to nag, from snark, snork, to snore, snort, from Dutch and Low German snorken, of imitative origin.]

Why it has suddenly enjoyed widespread usage...can't say.

Cut and pasted from the OED

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Snarky appears to have first come about around 1906.


[f. snark v. + -y1.]
Irritable, short-tempered, ‘narky’.

Quotations as evidence of use:
1906 E. Nesbit Railway Children ii. 49 Don't be snarky, Peter. It isn't our fault. 1913 J. Vaizey College Girl xxiv. 326 ‘Why should you think I am “snarky”?’ ‘Because—you are! You're not a bit sociable and friendly.’ 1953 E. Coxhead Midlanders x. 247 I've known you were the soul of kindness, under that snarky way. a1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 627 We also have to overcome something else—the stream of anti-government propaganda, smearing, snarky, derisive, which comes out of Fleet Street.

Hence "snarkily adv.; "snarkiness; "snarkish a.
1912 R. Fry Let. 16 Mar. (1972) I. 355 So sorry I seem so snarkish just now. 1960 Economist 28 May 859/2 In some of his comments on bureaucracy there is a relapse into snarkiness. 1967 Listener 20 July 91/3 Viewers' letters are not just read out. They are commented upon by Kenneth Robinson (usually rather snarkily).

[vidicon.livejournal.com]

The first use of the word "snark", I believe, came from Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark". "Snarky" has to be more recent than that....

"A colloquialism meaning short-tempered or snappish, snarky dates from 1906, so is hardly a neologism. But how animations can be short-tempered is another question. The word is arcane enough, in any case, that it should be limited to contexts where the meaning is clear. Then again, snarky has appeared in the Journal's pages only seven times in seven years, so we won't be snarky about it." Found here.

Helpful?

[*]

[technomom]

I first encountered it on AOL's GLBT boards around 1995.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

snarky
SYLLABICATION: snark·y
PRONUNCIATION: snärk
ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: snark·i·er, snark·i·est
Slang Irritable or short-tempered; irascible.
ETYMOLOGY: From dialectal snark, to nag, from snark, snork, to snore, snort, from Dutch and Low German snorken, of imitative origin.
OTHER FORMS: snarki·ly —ADVERB

I checked WordSpy and the only reference I found is from Lewis Carroll:

The Bellman on the "unmistakable marks" of the Snark:)
The third is its slowness in taking a jest.
Should you happen to venture on one,
It will sigh like a thing that is deeply distressed:
And it always looks grave at a pun.
—The Hunting of the Snark, 1872

The Online Etymology Dictionary says:
snark - imaginary animal, coined 1876 by Lewis Carroll in "The Hunting of the Snark."

And Merriam-Webster says:
Main Entry: snarky
Pronunciation: 'snär-kE
Function: adjective
Etymology: dialect snark to annoy, perhaps alteration of nark to irritate
Date: 1906

It's also listed in PseudoDictionary, but there isn't any information on the origin of it. Got access to an OED? I'm curious as to what they say about it.

OED says Lewis Carroll invented Snark the noun!

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

[Invented by ‘Lewis Carroll’ (C. L. Dodgson) in The Hunting of the Snark (1876).]
An imaginary animal. Also Comb.
1879 Temple Bar Nov. 391 Hunting for snarkes is a very pleasant occupation, if you do but make-believe strong enough. 1888 Lees & Clutterbuck B.C. 1887 xxvi. (1892) 297 There is quite a Snark-hunting ring about it. 1895 K. Grahame Golden Age 90 Some sinuous and snarklike conflict on the mat.

[misanthropist.livejournal.com]

I personally first encountered the word in Homicide

Snark as a verb, however...

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

...showed up around 1866.

[Corresponds to MLG. and LG. snarken (NFris. snarke, Sw. and Norw. snarka), MHG. snarchen (G. schnarchen, †schnarken), of imitative origin: cf. snork v.]
1. intr. To snore; to snort.
1866 N. & Q. 3rd Ser. X. 248/1, I will not quite compare it [a sound] to a certain kind of snarking or gnashing. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 9 Nov. 4/1 All of a sudden she (the mare, I suppose he meant) snarked an' begun to turn round.

2. intr. and trans. To find fault (with), to nag.
1882 Jamieson's Sc. Dict. IV. 314/2 To Snark,+to fret, grumble, or find fault with one. 1904 E. Nesbit Phœnix & Carpet x. 185 He remembered how Anthea had refrained from snarking him about tearing the carpet.

[jema.livejournal.com]

homicide, i miss that show!
it was so much better then any other police serie ever.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you liked Homicide, Jema!! That's so cool!!

Homicide is my favorite show ever -- scarcrest introduced me to it. Next month they're releasing the first two seasons on DVD, but I don't knwo if you'd be able to play them in Europe. DVD regions and all that crap. :(

[jema.livejournal.com]

i am a huge bayliss/kyle secor fan:)
even though frank always had the best lines.

[becala.livejournal.com]

"Snarky" makes me think of the Snorks.