January 20, 2016

I’ve been thinking about snarks lately, and snarkiness. If you think that’s because I’m sometimes snarky, disabuse yourself of that notion. Right now!

A snark is a fictional animal. Lewis Carroll (the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) mentioned, but chose not to describe, the creature in his nonsense poem The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits), written from 1874 to 1876. The poem borrows its setting, some creatures, and a distinctive vocabulary from his earlier poem Jabberwocky, published in 1871 as a part of his children’s novel Through the Looking Glass.

Some linguistic authorities suggest that snark is derived from snide and remark, and is thus an example of a portmanteau word. Lewis Carroll was the first to describe words this way. In Through the Looking Glass, Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice that some of the strange words in Jabberwocky are two meanings packed into one word, like the two halves of a portmanteau, a type of Victorian suitcase. Slithy, for example, is lithe and slimy, and mimsy is flimsy and miserable.

Carroll is more explicit about portmanteau words in his introduction to The Hunting of the Snark, where he writes “Humpty Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words “fuming” and “furious.” Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first … if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say “frumious.”

There are current examples of portmanteau words – motel from motor and hotel; smog from smoke and fog. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin seems to be a modern master of the form. She created refudiate, from refute and repudiate. I think that was probably an error – I do not give her the benefit of the same linguistic capabilities as Lewis Carroll. She once, in a tweet, used the phrase ‘cackle of rads’; frumious minds debated what she meant. Perhaps I’m being snarky.

The Snark lived on an island along with the Jubjub and the Bandersnatch, the island where the Jabberwock was slain. A band of ten Englishmen, all of whose names begin with B, sail off for the hunt. Once on the island, they split into two groups. Their strategy was creative:

             They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;

            They pursued it with forks and hope;

            They threatened its life with a railway-share;

            They charmed it with smiles and soap.

In the end, the Baker called out that he found the Snark, but he disappeared before the others arrived, thus proving the Snark was really a Boojum.

The poem received mixed reviews. A reviewer in Vanity Fair said the poem was ‘not worthy of the name of nonsense’, which seems nonsensical to me. I mean, if nonsense is not nonsense, then what is it? Thoughts like this keep me awake at night. A second reviewer wondered “if he has merely been inspired to reduce to idiotcy as many readers and more especially reviewers, as possible.” This has now become my second all-time favorite remark from a critic.

The United States Air Force deployed a missile during the Cold War they named the Snark. I probably built a model of it as a kid.

A Snark ground-launched missile, deployed by the US Air Force in the late 1950s, early 1960s.

So why this interest in the Snark? The fiscal crisis here as led to some interesting exchanges. About two weeks ago, an external panel asked the government about the status of an audit, which was late. The government replied that the audit was in the hands of the auditors, who were responsible for the tardiness. The panel said they needed the audit to assess the reality of the fiscal crisis. The government asked, rather snarkily I thought, why, since the previous audit did not act to prevent them from purchasing Puerto Rican bonds of various types.

By the way, the first image (featured image, in blog parlance) is from the first edition of The Hunting of the Snark. It is the map used by the ten British sailors to find the island where the Snark lived. I’ve been thinking of sending a copy to Governor Garcia Padilla to help him navigate the fiscal crisis here. But I probably won’t – he might think my gesture too snarky.

Notes: For more information, see Wikipedia entries on portmanteau words, The Hunting of the Snark, and Lewis Carroll.

My favorite quote from a critic? “If vacuity had weight, this could kill an oxen.” Look it up.