August 4, 2015 (Tuesday)
I recently read an article in which the writer used the word, “snarky,” several times. I’m sure I’ve heard the word used in conversation, but not very much. In fact, I wasn’t sure of its precise meaning, so I looked it up. I discovered that the word, “snark,” was in a Lewis Carroll nonsense poem in 1876. It was a fictitious animal created for the poem. The word, “snark,” therefore, has been around for 139 years. But “snarky,” the word under discussion in this blog, did not come from Carroll’s poem.
Like many words, it has gone through several transformations of meaning, and has had the 
present meaning only since 2002. Webster’s definition is, “crotchety, snappish.” I find that definition very unsatisfying because those words need defining, too. The second definition is better: “sarcastic, impertinent, or irreverent in tone or manner.” The Online Etymological Dictionary gives a better description of what we are usually talking about when we use the word: “caustic, opinionated, and critical rhetoric.”
We mean the same thing as “snarky,” I think, when we say, “catty,” or “snide.” In our everyday conversation we would probably describe such remarks as “ugly” or “unkind.”
As a Christian, I am instructed by the Lord to be careful about what I say, especially what I say about others. The verse that should guide me is Ephesians 4:32, ” Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” If this verse become a guiding principle for me, it automatically rules out “snarky.”
Others may like our use of sarcasm. They may encourage us to “put down” a person, but whenever they do that, perhaps we should tell them as Jesus told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” (And I’m not being snarky).