Is Burning Man still sarky?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:39 pm

Vacays?

Sarky is a completely different word, different meaning.
Most common use in the UK, I suppose.

Snark can be completely humourless, usually is a criticism of attitude.
As I posted, I have heard it used to refer to edgy car styling long ago.
In context, a grouchier version of whinging, I gather in UK usage.
I think a lot of people in the us have mistaken snarky for meaning sarky.

Maybe some of our UK people can tell us if this has changed?
I mostly get what drifts across the creek.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:23 pm

Is that the shit creek you're up without a paddle?

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:27 pm

How can I possibly be wrong?

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:47 pm

In california you may not be.
Common usage rules when it comes to language.
I've been going by the UK or european usage, since that's where I heard it.
Sarky has been around for some time as a distinct, if slang, term.
I thought it was understood by everyone.

When snarky was mentioned, I asked around and it's two different words.
"A bit sarky, wasn't it?" usually seems to be said with good humour.
Where I've looked on UK forums, snark seems to refer to insults or attitude that will get you banned.

Antim, you're always sarky, but I can only remember one time you came off a little snarky, and I'm guessing it was misunderstood.

thirt33n · Post by **thirt33n** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:54 pm

snark sark bark ass fark muthafukkas a narc and the shit is quark i'm scared of the dark but not afraid to be stark naked anyone have any bacon i'm fixin the station and it's got no relation to sark or snark

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:04 pm

thirt33n wrote:snark sark bark ass fark muthafukkas a narc and the shit is quark i'm scared of the dark but not afraid to be stark naked anyone have any bacon i'm fixin the station and it's got no relation to sark or snark

Back on topic.
Good!

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:11 am

AntiM wrote:sarky is snarky misspelled .... unless you take "vacays" then we're all lost.

Then you'd be eating a sarny. Just to confuse the yanks.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 7:15 am

Sark (French: Sercq; Sercquiais: SÃ¨r) is a small island in the southwestern English Channel. It is one of the Channel Islands, is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and as such is a British crown dependency. It has a population of about 600. Sark's main industries are tourism, crafts and finance. Sark has an area of two square miles (5.45 kmÂ²). Sark was the last European territory to abolish what some called classic feudalism.

Post by **Eric** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 1:41 pm

gyre wrote:In california you may not be.
Common usage rules when it comes to language.

Bingo! We have a winner!

I've never heard the word "sarky" before, but I did look it up & find that's it's in use in the UK. The California (or possibly U.S., but I won't even pretend to speak for anyone else) usage of "snarky" seems to be pretty much equivalent to the UK use of "sarky". It basically means sarcastic or irreverent. I can't fathom how it would be used in reference to cars.

I could blather on about the differences between U.K. & American "english", but that would be cruel.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:45 pm

I had never even heard snarky until I started this thread, except to refer to cars, though I had heard snark used in a derogatory way, always.
Because of my enjoyment of humour, I started learning a lot of british and australian slang ages ago, as it seems always intertwined.
And I find I enjoy a lot of the words too.

I use a really good australian dictionary, but I have not found an equivalent for british slang.
There are about 50 out there, but I haven't found an inclusive one yet.
You have to learn the language to get the jokes.
And a lot of film is translated into british rather than american.
If you think british slang is hard, try australian!
There is a lot more of it.

My personal suspicion is that some naff twat in california was told he was snarky, and thought it was a compliment, as it does sound similar to sarcastic.
There are a lot of subtle insults in british slang, and it's really easy to miss them.
Check out Shameless some time.
I miss a lot of the conversation on that show.

I spend most of my time online on a forum with a large number of UK folks, so when this came up I asked them about it.
What I posted is what they told me- two words, two different meanings.
And a really different context.
And I started paying attention to the usage of snarky in media too.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... key=102313
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define. ... &dict=CALD

From dialectical british snark, meaning 'To nag, to find fault with' recorded back to 1906.
No agreement on usage in the american sources I find.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=383533

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snarky
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/snarky
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snarky
http://www.answers.com/topic/snarky

Some microsoft related usage
http://blogs.msdn.com/cwilso/archive/20 ... 01894.aspx

The usage of snarky relating to car styling may have been a result of mistranslation or deliberate, as it referred to a car having an uncomfortable edginess to the look.
The origin may have been in italian.
"Ferraris should never be as beautiful as possible.
They must always have a certain snarkiness to them."

Anyway, I feel a bit of a gumby for thinking you shirtlifters would ever stop being sarcastic!

Da Mule · Post by **Da Mule** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 11:03 am

Ugly Dougly wrote:But it was nice to be covered in mule spittle once again, I will always cherish those memories.

I can help you out there, if you'd like a walk down memory lane.

littleflower · Post by **littleflower** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:25 pm

you dug deep for that one, didn't you, muley baby?

Apollonaris Zeus · Post by **Apollonaris Zeus** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:23 pm

Eplaya is becoming "Sardistic" not just snarky.