[Ads-l] snarge

Mon Jun 29 23:00:31 UTC 2026

The September 23 2005 issue of Wired magazine included the article "Bird 
Plus Plane Equals Snarge" by Jeff Rice, which attributes the word to the 
Smithsonian scientists.

The article can be found at
https://www.wired.com/2005/09/bird-plus-plane-equals-snarge/

------ Original Message ------
>From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 6/29/2026 6:52:30 PM
Subject Re: snarge

>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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