Comments on separated by a common language: snarky, sarky and narky

I rely on others to be up north for us and to repo...

2008-06-03T12:56:00.000+01:00

I rely on others to be up north for us and to report their findings!

Would be more helpful to comment on eyeball at that post, thanks.

I don't know about anyone else, but it seemed to b...

2008-06-03T09:02:00.000+01:00

I don't know about anyone else, but it seemed to be common in the north of England and and was used to imply a cross between being snide and bad-tempered. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but perhaps you should go north of Watford a little more often? There are often differences between north and south. (I was born in the north, now live in the south.) And I've never heard 'eyeballing' in the sense of 'measuring, only 'eyeing [it] up'.

My friends and I use "snarky" (describing people o...

2008-05-23T19:06:00.000+01:00

My friends and I use "snarky" (describing people or their remarks) to refer to a snide, superior tone taken in criticizing something. It is closer to "sarcastic" than to "grumpy", but "sarcastic" doesn't quite cover it. It may be sarcastic to say "Nice job" to someone who has just messed up, but it is not snarky. Snarky is a whole nother level of snide. For something to be really snarky it has to contain an ostentatious cleverness and wit but also a real spitefulness and meanness of spirit. When someone says something really snarky, part of you wants to laugh, part of you wants to applaud, and part of you wants to punch him hard in the face.

Thank you for the link to The Railway Children. I...

2008-05-15T09:20:00.000+01:00

Thank you for the link to The Railway Children. I couldn't sleep last night so I read through the book, and it bought back good memories of the film for me. :)

Cameron is ably demonstrating snarky and sarky. T...

2008-05-14T11:39:00.000+01:00

Cameron is ably demonstrating snarky and sarky. Thanks, Cameron!

Welcome to the conversation, Jackie.

Anon, "parky" stands for "perishing and really kol...

2008-05-14T10:20:00.000+01:00

Anon, "parky" stands for "perishing and really kold, y'know?" along the same sort of pattern as OK from "oll korrekt."

No really. It does.

Howdy. Just popping by to say that I stumbled onto...

2008-05-14T07:58:00.000+01:00

Howdy. Just popping by to say that I stumbled onto your blog (when searching the web for an explanation as to why the British have weird -zza nicknames for people) and I love it! I am an avid Anglophile living in the the US (you can probably tell what area just by my greeting, right? haha) and I have always been very amused by linguistics, particularly that of the UK and also the area I am from (I'm in a place called Bowling Green, where ridiculously enough most residents don't know what a bowling green actually is). Anyhoo, I've added the feed onto my Livejournal and will probably pop back up to say things from time to time!

When did "snarky" become popular? I moved to the ...

2008-05-13T18:17:00.000+01:00

When did "snarky" become popular? I moved to the UK about 15 years ago and I always assumed it was BrE, perhaps because I don't remember ever hearing itin the States.

This would seem to be a good time to take a stab a...

2008-05-13T11:09:00.000+01:00

This would seem to be a good time to take a stab at guessing the origin of the BrE slang parky, meaning chilly.

Besides which, etymologies which rely on acronyms ...

2008-05-13T08:28:00.000+01:00

Besides which, etymologies which rely on acronyms and/or portmanteaus are almost invariably and inevitably wrong, viz. Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden; For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge; Port Out Starboard Home... and so endlessly on.

I'm only disagreeing with the etymology on Urban D...

2008-05-12T22:27:00.000+01:00

I'm only disagreeing with the etymology on Urban Dictionary...it has the markings of a folk etymology--i.e. an interpretation of a word's history that makes sense to the present-day speaker, but that isn't the actual way that the word developed. Real etymology is done by checking dates and sources and making sure that they match up--not just by putting together an explanation that seems to make sense.

The senses that are being discussed for snarky all seem to be consistent with its historical use. My definition, reliant on the OED, didn't catch the nuances that some of the further comments have.

In my mind, there is definitely an element of "iss...

2008-05-12T16:57:00.000+01:00

In my mind, there is definitely an element of "issuing possibly unjust and usually petty criticism." involved in being snarky. It's not just being irritable, although one is often irritable while being snarky. It often involves sarcasm, but doesn't have to.

I personally think that Snarky implies both being ...

2008-05-12T16:44:00.000+01:00

I personally think that Snarky implies both being sarcastic and irritable.
It implies (to me) sarcasm that is meant to be biting as opposed to just being sarcastic for the sake of being funny.

MW 10C (AmE) lists "snippy" as "ca. 1848" (without...

2008-05-12T16:19:00.000+01:00

MW 10C (AmE) lists "snippy" as "ca. 1848" (without further etymological notes), so it's not a new coinage. This matches my intuition, as I'd expect it in the vocabulary of a waspish grandmother rather than a youth.

I can't speak to its usage in BrE.

I have to agree with Jonathan Bogart. In the blogo...

2008-05-12T14:51:00.000+01:00

I have to agree with Jonathan Bogart. In the blogosphere at least, snarky posts tend to involve mockery rather than substantive criticism. Sarcasm isn't necessary, but it might push a post into "high snark".

She said she met you. I am surprised that she wan...

2008-05-11T23:23:00.000+01:00

She said she met you. I am surprised that she wanted to associate with me, as she knows I post outrageous things on otherpeoples Blogs every so often :)

Still, I was able to check the porn spam over while she was out of the house.

The Urban Dictionary is a hive of folk etymology.P...

2008-05-11T20:25:00.000+01:00

The Urban Dictionary is a hive of folk etymology.

Porn spam noted and removed. I met your wife today, JohnB!

Ohh - Porn Spam :)

2008-05-11T19:33:00.000+01:00

Ohh - Porn Spam :)

Not to take an opposing view to all you profession...

2008-05-11T17:27:00.000+01:00

Not to take an opposing view to all you professional language types, but I've always been of the belief that snark as used in AmE popular culture is simply contracted from snide remark. This is also how it's defined at urbandictionary.com, a site I consider fairly authoritative for pop-culture definitions (with no disrespect to the OED).

P.S.: Hi Jo!

"snippy" is a similar word I see a lot on the inte...

2008-05-11T11:53:00.000+01:00

"snippy" is a similar word I see a lot on the interwebs. It's not marked as AmE in COD but there are no uses in SARA: is it a recent coinage or a recent import from AmE?

Well, it may be used more specifically in geek sub...

2008-05-11T07:32:00.000+01:00

Well, it may be used more specifically in geek subculture--it still fits, I think, with the definition I've given--but when I use it (and, boy do I use it), it doesn't just mean 'sarcastic'. E.g. if BH is being grumpy about something I'll say "Don't get snarky with me!" Not that BH ever gets grumpy, angel that he is (he's reading this over my shoulder).

I'm not sure you have the complete story, Lynne. "...

2008-05-11T05:28:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure you have the complete story, Lynne. "Snarky" may originally have meant "irritable," but as it's commonly used today (often in online discourse, as Jo says), it's used to indicate behavior roughly analogous to BrE "taking the piss."

So for example, Mike and the robots snarked on (or were snarky towards) the old movies in Mystery Science Theater 3000. The Comics Curmudgeon snarks on newspaper comics. The literary magazine The Believer has even run anti-snark editorials, positioning something like genuine enthusiasm as snark's opposite.

This usage of the word may be primarily AmE, though I imagine BrE speakers who spend a lot of time online and entrenched in various geek cultures would be familiar with it.

Or, Joe, were you referring to Jo's comment? I do...

2008-05-10T20:03:00.000+01:00

Or, Joe, were you referring to Jo's comment? I do think that Buffy reference is an allusion to Carroll's poem.

Not that I know of. The dialectal verb predates C...

2008-05-10T20:00:00.000+01:00

Not that I know of. The dialectal verb predates Carroll, but who knows where he took his inspiration from.

Does Lewis Carrol's poem The Hunting of the Snark ...

2008-05-10T13:59:00.000+01:00

Does Lewis Carrol's poem The Hunting of the Snark have anything to do with this?