Tag Archives: science

Yesterday I was miffed at snarky comments on Twitter and Facebook made by NYC locals who were underwhelmed by Hurricane Irene.

I wasn’t the only one.

Neighbors in New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont who are underwater and without power were quick to snark back at their lack of empathy.

The snark resurfaced last night in live tweets about the VMAs, one of the few awards shows I don’t watch (but probably should based on the comments).

Which got me thinking… where does the word ‘snark’ come from?  How long has it been around?  And is there someone I can personally thank since it is so much fun to say?

‘Snark’ is simply the blending of ‘snide’ and ‘remark.’ I couldn’t find a date or person credited for the first mash-up of the word, but it’s a good one.

I did find lots of ‘snark’ derivations, which are brilliant in and of themselves.  I know you’ll want to add a few of them to your vocab:

• snarkagogy — the art or science of being snarky (now, there’s a college major for ya)
• snarkalec — someone who consistently makes snarky remarks
• snarkasm — snarky, with an undertone of sarcasm (for advanced snarkalecs only)
• snarkhat — if you are not usually snarky, put it on to make a snarky comment; then take off

There are a lot more at UrbanDictionary.com.  (Figured it would be snarky to not reveal my source.)