To Snark or Not To Snark

Posted on August 28, 2003

Neal Pollack, the Greatest Living American Writer (just ask him), is engaging in an edifying discourse on the etymology of the highly technical literary term “snark”:

The word snark is derived from the ancient Greek word, “snarkos,” meaning, “a review written by a jealous competitor of Homer who is more worried about hipster cache and masthead climbing than actually literary quality.” The word makes its first modern appearance in Don Quixote, when Sancho Panza says to his master, “those who would criticize you for tilting at windmills, sire, are merely engaging in snark.”

It’s very enlightening. Highly recommended.