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.

[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.

[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.

[becala.livejournal.com]

"Snarky" makes me think of the Snorks.