[Ads-l] snarge

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting topic, JL.
The OED does not have an entry for "snarge", but serendipitously the
OED does include the word "snarge" within a quotation under the word
"goop". The citation is dated March 2007.

[Begin OED citation under goop noun]
2007 'Snarge', a Field Lab term for the goop wiped from an aircraft
following a bird strike, is often anatomically unrecognizable.
Canadian Geographic March 50/1
[End OED citation under goop noun]

The earliest pertinent match I found appeared in the periodical
"Flying Safety" which has used "snarge" many times with the sense
"bird remains". This seems to be the most common current meaning.

Date: September 2003
Periodical: Flying Safety
Periodical Location: U.S.A. National
Article: Bird Strike DNA
Authors: Carla Dove, Marcy Heacker, and Lee Weigt of the Division of
Birds and Laboratories of Analytical Biology Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC
Quote Page 4 to 8
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
The DNA identification process should be fully functional in five
years, but for the time being we are going to be busy developing
protocols, extracting DNA from frozen tissues stored in the museum's
collection, and sequencing bird "snarge" (a Feather Lab term for the
goop that is wiped from the airplane after a bird strike).
[End excerpt]

Based on the citation above the term may have originated at a
Smithsonian laboratory.

In 2004 an article in "Flying Safety" titled "Bat Strike!" expanded
the meaning of "snarge" to include "bat remains". Indeed, the article
further expanded the term to mean "wildlife remains".

Date: September 2004
Periodical: Flying Safety
Periodical Location: U.S.A. National
Article: Bat Strike!
Author: Suzanne Peurach Biological Survey Unit United States
Geological Survey (USGS) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center National
Museum of Natural History Washington
Quote Pages 18 to 19
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt 01]
After an aircraft/wildlife strike, field personnel can easily identify
large mammals such as deer and coyotes, but tiny bits of "snarge"
(wildlife remains) sometimes contain bat hair and fragments that need
more careful examination. That's where the Biological Survey Unit of
the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center comes in.
[End excerpt 01]

[Begin excerpt 02]
All fragmentary remains are filed through the Feather Identification
Lab and the Air Force Safety Automated System (AFSAS). The bits of bat
"snarge" are then transferred to the USGS Biological Survey Unit from
the Feather Lab for more specific identification.
[End excerpt 02]

In October 2005 the "Boston Sunday Globe" published an article about
the treatment of dead whales. The word "snarge" was used when
referring to whale remains. I have found a few other citations
supporting this sense.

Date: October 2, 2005
Newspaper: Boston Sunday Globe
Newspaper Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Article: The Whale Coroner
Author: Keith O'Brien
Quote Page 41, Column 2
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-snarge/200580107/

[Begin excerpt]
Dead whales stink. Their oily stench can linger even after a couple of
long showers. "The smell never comes out," Moore says. But it doesn't
bother him. He lost his sense of smell years ago, he says. Colleagues
just deal with it. And when it gets really bad, they make up words to
describe it, such as pancake (a badly decomposed whale), snarge
(really nasty meat), and grunt (see snarge).
[End excerpt]

In 2007 a Canadian newspaper used "snarge" for "bird remains".

Date: September 15, 2007
Newspaper: The Globe and Mail
Newspaper Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Article: The world will go on without us
Author: Anne McIlroy
Quote Page F8, Column 5
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-globe-and-mail-snarge/200579719/

[Begin excerpt]
DECODING SNARGE SNAFUS
When a bird hits a plane in flight, all that's left is snarge - a
gooey substance composed of blood, tissue and microscopic bits of
feathers.
[End excerpt]

In 2005 a newspaper in Washington state used "snarge" for "whale remains".

Date: August 12, 2025
Newspaper: South Whidbey Record
Newspaper Location: Coupeville, Washington
Section: Life
Article: Bones of a behemoth: Volunteers remove skeleton from dead whale
Quote page not specified
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
Finally, haulers carried and dumped buckets of the "gorp" and
"snarge," or the whale waste, along the cliffs, above the high tide
line. This way, the waste could decompose naturally and its nutrients
would be distributed back into the sand. It will also give scavengers
an opportunity to feast on them, Carlson noted.
[End excerpt]

In 1996 there was an attempt to launch "snarge" with a different meaning.

Date: December 20, 1996
Radio Show: All Things Considered [NPR] (USA)
Host: Robert Siegel
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
ELSTER: Jerk could be the definition of any of the words in that list.
But specifically, a yazahamper is a disliked or dislikable person. A
snarge, on the other hand, is a person no one likes, a total jerk.

The English language is full of wonderful, wonderful words to insult
people, and, and so I devoted a chapter on how to use more
grandiloquent, interesting language to defend yourself against the
snarges of the world.
[End excerpt]

In 2000 "snarge" was applied to a "low-life, cheatin' boyfriend". But
it seems that this "jerk" sense has not achieved traction. I am
reminded of the following line from the film "Mean Girls": "Gretchen,
stop trying to make "fetch" happen, it's not going to happen!"

Date: September 4, 2000
Newspaper: The Roanoke Times
Newspaper Location: Roanoke, Virginia
Article: GIMME REWRITE! HAVE I GOT A WORD FOR THEM
Author: Margie Fisher (Editorial Writer)
Quote Page A9
Database: NewsBank Access World News

[Begin excerpt]
Call that low-life, cheatin' boyfriend not a snake in the grass, not a
jerk, but "lapidicolous" or "a snarge."
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Jun 29, 2026 at 2:35 PM Jonathan Lighter
<00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> AI:
>
> >Snarge is aviation slang for the biological remains, such as tissue, blood, and feathers, that are left behind on an airplane after a bird collides with or is ingested by it. ...The term is a portmanteau of the words "snot" and "garbage".<
>
> 2009 _Post-Standard_ (Syracuse, N.Y) (Jan. 25) A-14 [Newspapers.com]:
> Arriving mostly in sealed plastic bags, these included birds' feet,
> whole feathers or tiny bits of down, and pulverized bird guts,known as
> snarge....And if feathers don't [identify the species] the snarge goes
> to the DNA section.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org