Tuesday Word: Humblebrag (belated)*

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

hum·ble·brag [həmbəlbraɡ]:
origin: (2010) coined by comedian, Harris Wittels.

noun & verb
*Sorry, for the late word, but I got lost inside my mansion, don't you hate how that always happens on the butler's day off? Other examples:

"It's so difficult to find places that sell extra large condoms!"

"Girls with curves are lucky, I just can't gain an once no matter how much I eat!"

The Millennium really is the era of the inverted narcissist; the person who feels deeply hollow & insecure, requires constant approval & praise, but doesn't want you to realize that's what they're doing -- they need to be seen as kind, accomplished, selfless, well..."perfect". But bragging (or any overt form of vanity) is not a properly prince/princessy thing to do. Ergo, humblebraggarts came into existence.

#humblebragging is one of many irritating ways to try to get people to pay attention to you, not unique in concept, but new & slightly tweeked toward the limited formats of social media platforms -- this method projects false modesty in an attempt to mask throwing a bouquet at oneself (and invites others to join in); essentially, humblebrags are complaining about things that you're actually not-so-secretly proud of; self-promotion blended with criticism. They are usually brief, often a single sentence or two.

There is an entire book filled with humblebrags, Harvard dedicated a study to humblebrag effectiveness, and Twitter features a celebrity collection of humblebrags that is yours for the mocking.

Comments

[med_cat]

An excellent definition, thank you :) Love the examples and the links and the book you linked to ;)

(have the butler print you a map of the mansion, next time he's working :P)

(hey, I can't say anything, I didn't post last Friday's word at all :P)

also btw

[med_cat]

If you'd not seen this article before, I think you might like it (it does mention humbebrag) ;))

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/07/7-ways-to-be-insufferable-on-facebook.html

Re: also btw

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

This is a good article! Thanks!

Re: also btw

[med_cat]

You're welcome! The author has some other good articles there, was just reading some of them the other day :)

[full_metal_ox]

Note how any online dismissal of MENSA is guaranteed to include an offhand mention of the speaker’s own eligibility for membership.