Lawrence Dorfman - The Illustrated Dictionary of Snark: A Snide, Sarcastic Guide to Verbal Sparring, Comebacks, Irony, Insults, and Much More

Snark was only used on the somewhat rare occasion when someone needed a word to describe an attitude that was a little more than sarcastic and definitely a lot more than snide. Thus, the term snark was born. It had admittedly been around for a while, lurking about in the staid literary canon where it was used to great effect by Lewis Carrol in The Hunting of the Snark and by Jack London in The Cruise of the Snark. But in the popular media? Not so much. So just where did the idea of giving snark a rebirth come from? It started after reading Snark by David Denby, a pissy polemic against snark and its uses in the political arena. Denby tried to make the case that snark was beginning to run rampant in the mediaruining conversations and shutting down any real discussion of the issues. As is often the case, his warning not only went unheeded, but in fact played a role in kick-starting its general acceptance.

So shortly after, snark was considered cool and hip. It became the foundation of a generation of comics jokes and routines. They used it liberally and their often ill-based tirades were little more than attempts to separate themselves from mainstream humor and declare to each other that they were all a part of the same great contemporary group. It became a badge for them, an identity. And soon enough, it became the very mainstream of humor that they have just recently rallied against. I watched all this with despair.

Most of these five-minute wonders had the cutting edge of a plastic knife, and their humor certainly missed more than it hit. There was no genius here, not when compared to the great snarkists/humorists like Dorothy Parker, Groucho Marx, Robert Benchley, Oscar Wilde, H. L. Mencken... the list goes on and on. But I did recognize that there were a few great contemporary wits working in snark.

I liked Dennis Leary, Bill Hicks, Bill Maher, Lewis Black, and Dennis Miller. I wanted to celebrate them; to put together an homage to the wit and witticisms of these great snarkists, and thus an idea was hatched. The topics covered in this book touch on everything snark. We have the use of vitriolic repartee with a sly, knowing, condescending tone to it. We also touch on the words that hurt so good, with the cleverand sometimes hurtfulinsult. (Spelled just like that, with the hyphens and everything. (Spelled just like that, with the hyphens and everything.

Good thing the Greek deity didnt send me , the Greek word for sex. Things would have turned out completely different.) The Illustrated Dictionary of Snark also delves into the sanctity of marriage and family as a whole. To sum up our mindset, we borrow some words from the great, Louis C.K.s stand up, Shameless: Divorce is always good news. I know that sounds weird, but its true because no good marriage has ever ended in divorce.... That would be sad. If two people were married and they were really [happy] and they just had a great thing and then they got divorced, that would be really sad.

But that has happened zero times. Politics pundits, clichs, the whole shebang. All these and more are touched on and available in one handy volume. Youll laugh, youll cry (mostly about spending the money). Itll be a combination of Cats and Les Misrables, Stairway to Heaven and Freebird, Jeop ardy and Wheel of Fortune all rolled into one... (Caution: The pages are not flushable.) Robert Hunter once wrote the words, what a long strange trip its been... amen brother. amen brother.

And it aint over yet! Lawrence Dorfman

Opposite Sex

Its better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all Nah, not buyin it, not one lil bit.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder Is it really the heart? Pretty sure absence makes the... hell, I dont know, cant remember now... maybe it was abstinence... what does abstinence make grow again?
Shes as beautiful as the day is long Just remember... the day always ends with night... dark, terrifying, ugly night.

And that can be mighty long, too.
You make a better door than a window Hey, Ive always been more of a door mancheck out those knockers.
She fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down Clearly, she likes climbing back up there, over and over and over.
Always a bridesmaid That should be telling you something.
Beat around the bush Drunken first sexual encounter or some retro political campaign slogan? Your guess.
Lifes a bitch Then you die... or get married.