Sardonic
Thus was my post on the hemlocks last Friday described by Tom Montag. Not a word I use every day. Meaning what? "Of or resembling small fish tightly packed in brine in a flat can" I wondered, intrigued and full of etymological curiousity? The word was familiar and I would have probably gotten it right on a multiple choice list of possible defintions, but I wasn't 100% sure. Now sarcastic I most definitely understand. And 'grinning like a dog'-- well, I see this every day around here. Here's what the wordsmiths say about it:
\Sar*don"ic\, a. [F. sardonique, L. sardonius, Gr. ?, ?, perhaps fr. ? to grin like a dog, or from a certain plant of Sardinia, Gr. ?, which was said to screw up the face of the eater.]
Usage: Where strained, sardonic smiles are glozing still, And grief is forced to laugh against her will. --Sir H. Wotton.
Similar Adj. 1. wry - humorously sarcastic or mocking; "dry humor"; "an ironic remark often conveys an intended meaning obliquely"; "an ironic novel"; "an ironical smile"; "with a wry Scottish wit"
Etymology: French sardonique, from Greek sardonios: disdainfully or skeptically humorous : derisively mocking