Denby argues snark is ruining our language, but there are some people out there who revel in it. Who, in fact, go so far as to name themselves after the concept. Miss Snark - the literary agent proudly claims to be the site where "Miss Snark vented her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushed them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark."
For example:
"...Miss Snark turns to the slush pile.
Not quite as many crimes against the written form in today's mail.
Some good material in fact. Good, but not good enough.
Not publishable, not marketable..nada."
Should people be proud to name themselves after snark?
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'Snark is an important, defining work and an extremely satisfying read as well' John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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'Snark is an important, defining work and an extremely satisfying read as well' John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Snark – noun
Also snarky (adj.) and snarkily (adv.)
But just what is snark?
We all think we recognize snark when we see it – it’s a tone of teasing, snide, undermining abuse, nasty and knowing, that’s spreading through the media. Its practitioners think it’s funny, but it isn’t big and it certainly isn’t clever. So where did it all go wrong? What happened to the black comedy, the clever irony and the pinpoint satire we once admired and how did they turn into a charmless and witless way of speaking?
Inspired by Lewis Carroll, the New Yorker critic and bestselling author David Denby takes on the snarkers. In this sharp and witty polemic, he identifies the nine principles of snark and traces its history from its invention as personal insult in the drinking clubs of ancient Athens, through such diverse proponents as Alexander Pope, Private Eye and Tom Wolfe to its arrival in the age of the Internet, where it has become the sole purpose and style of many media, political and celebrity Web sites.
By highlighting what has gone wrong in America, Denby gives us a manifesto for a snark-free way of communicating in the future.
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