Snarky

[Benjamin Barrett]

I heard snarky again today in a movie review where one movie was not as
snarky as another, or something like that. I was driving, so couldn't get an
exact citation. Although Grant argues it works for the Bush example below, I
wonder if the AHD4 meaning is what the writer or the movie reviewer really
intended.

Benjamin Barrett
Ballard Visualization Complete

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Grant Barrett
> Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 2:57 AM
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG>
>
> There's a 10,000 to one cite ratio of
> snark-as-negative to snark-as-positive. "Sometimes mistaken
> for a snotty or arrogant attitude" should be "; a snotty or
> arrogant attitude." There's no mistaking about it.
>
> I also don't see why irascible doesn't work as a def in the
> CNN paragraph.
>
> On Oct 14, 2004, at 04:04, Benjamin J Barrett wrote:
>
> > The AHD4 online gives:
> >     "Slang Irritable or short-tempered; irascible."
> >
> > The Urban Dictionary
> > (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snarky) gives:
> >     "(adjective) describes a witty mannerism, personality,
> or behavior
> > that is a combination of sarcasm and cynicism. Usually
> accepted as a
> > complimentary term. Snark is sometimes mistaken for a snotty or
> > arrogant attitude."
> >
> > Here's a citation that doesn't surely doesn't fit in the AHD
> > definition, though I'm not 100% sure about the UD
> definition (citation
> > from
> > http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/13/viewer.reax/):
> >
> > "Tim from Maryland:
> >
> > "While Kerry sometimes leans too heavily on statistics and arcane
> > figures, it is clear he has a command of the issues impacting the
> > lives of most Americans, and has a thoughtful plan to address each
> > one. Bush is clearly looking past the questions for any
> opportunity to
> > place a prepared one-liner fed him by a speech writer. If
> Bush spent
> > his energy studying the issues facing this country, and
> spent a little
> > less time being snarky, he might just learn about what the
> rest of us
> > need from our president."