Nobody likes a show off: The excruciating rise of the 'humblebrag'

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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/nobody-likes-a-show-off-the-excruciating-rise-of-the-humblebrag-2363207.html

Say hello to the humblebrag. As in those two sentences, the humblebrag is when someone, possibly unconsciously, manages to show off about something while simultaneously couching it in terms of self deprecation – at least enough to give the impression that the author doesn't believe the hype. (Incidentally, there's actually a good humblebrag in the song "Don't Believe the Hype", when Public Enemy's Chuck D raps: "Some claim that I'm a smuggler, some say 'I never heard of ya'.")

The ubiquity of Facebook-status updates and – particularly – Twitter messages have made the humblebrag the de facto method of choice for those wanting to share their achievements with as many people as possible, often in lieu of having anything else to say.

Indeed, the worst offenders tend to be celebrities followed by tens of thousands of people on Twitter, who have a lot to brag about but maintain enough self-awareness not to wantonly show off about the luck that has befallen them. (There are exceptions. See: West, Kanye.) Outright showing off is much harder to do online than in real life. Without the nuance that body language affords, a post about how wonderful of a time you had at the gifting area of the Emmy awards is likely to attract a considerable amount of opprobrium, rather than conspiratorial giggling.

So, adding a rejoinder about how you're in the gifting room in your sweaty gym shorts, or without make-up, or despite not being able to string a sentence together due to tooth surgery, will hopefully give an impression of awareness of the superficiality of such a situation. Here's a particular clanger from the US writer John Moe: "The fact that Wikipedia lists me as a notable alumnus of my college speaks of the reliability of crowd-sourced information."