Humblebrag

Humblebragging is the behavior of boasting under the pretenses of a complaint or modesty. The term was coined by comedian Harris Wittels.

Etymology

The term humblebrag was first used in 2010 by Harris Wittels as the name of his Twitter account, @Humblebrag, where he would retweet posts he considered to be humblebrags. The posts was later developed into a Grantland column. In 2012, he published a book about the concept, Humblebrag: The Art of False Modesty. The popularity of the word led the American Dialect Society to proclaim it their most useful Word of the Year for 2011.

Presentation

Humblebragging is one method of bragging while avoiding seeming impolite and breaking social rules. Multiple rhetorical techniques have been used in humblebragging, including asking questions, complaining, and presenting information in a seemingly objective way.

Psychological impacts

Studies on humblebragging suggest that it generally makes worse impression on others than standard bragging. While humblebragging would appear to make one seem competent and likable, due to its lack of sincerity, it is ineffective and makes one seem both more unlikable and less competent. Wittels claimed that humblebragging "can only serve to make people jealous of the posters and/or hate them".

See also

• False humility