humblebrag
humblebrag – sostantivo numerabile
humblebrag – verbo intransitivo
humblebragger – sostantivo numerabile
La giornalista e femminista inglese Laurie Penny di recente ha twittato:
I think intellectual (?) ableism is something I don’t instantly grasp because ‘being clever’ was so much my core identity growing up.
Al che un’altra giornalista e blogger ha risposto:
Not the subtlest humble-brag I’ve ever seen.
E la Penny si è prontamente coperta di ridicolo. Quanto all’humblebrag incriminato, secondo me non era neanche dei più smaccati. Quello che Laurie Penny in effetti ha detto è: “mi riesce difficile afferrare la discriminazione nei confronti di persone intellettualmente limitate perché io intelligente lo sono”. La giornalista l’ha accusata di humblebragging, perché con quel tweet la Penny apparentemente si autoflagellava mentre in realtà si autoincensava. E la falsa modestia è proprio antipatica.
L’essenza dell’humblebrag è proprio questa, e celebrità, vip o star che dir si voglia, sembrano particolarmente prolifiche anche se si tratta di un atteggiamento piuttosto comune, magari senza rendersene conto, a chiunque usi i social media.
Origini del termine
L’espressione è stata inventata nel 2011 da Harris Wittels (uno degli autori della sitcom americana Parks and Recreation) che aveva creato l’account originale su Twitter, @Humblebrag, in cui prendere in giro gli humblebrags delle celebrità ritwittandole. La parola è formata dalla combinazione di due termini contraddittori: humble, umile, e brag, vantarsi.
humblebrag – noun C
humblebrag – verb I
humblebragger – noun C
The British feminist journalist Laurie Penny recently tweeted the following:
I think intellectual (?) ableism is something I don’t instantly grasp because ‘being clever’ was so much my core identity growing up.
Another female journalist and blogger responded:
Not the subtlest humble-brag I’ve ever seen.
And Penny was held up to general ridicule. As humblebrags go it actually is pretty subtle, in my opinion. What Penny is saying is: I find it hard to realise I am holding discriminatory attitudes towards people who are not intellectually able (for example, because they have learning disabilities) because I’m clever. The other journalist accused her of humblebragging, because beating yourself up in public over something you should do but don’t because you are too clever is a form of boasting, and as we know no one likes a clever dick, hence the expression too clever by half.
The essence of a humblebrag is that you are pretending to be modest and self-effacing while actually boasting about yourself. Celebrities are particularly prone to this behaviour, but anyone who uses social media is likely to have committed the offence multiple times, probably without even realising they are doing it.
Origins
The term was invented on 2011 by Harris Wittels (writer for the US sitcom Parks and Recreation) who set up the original @Humblebrag Twitter account which held up the humblebrags of celebrities for mockery by retweeting them. The word is a combination of two contradictory words rammed together: humble, meaning not thinking you are better than other people, and brag, meaning to boast.
