Humblebrag meaning: a boast dressed as a complaint

A boast in a complaint

A humblebrag is a boast wearing a disguise. On the surface it’s a complaint, or embarrassment, or modesty. Underneath, it tells you about something the speaker is proud of. “So tired after my third promotion this year” is a complaint about being tired, and nobody reads it that way.

Two kinds are common. The mock complaint grumbles about something most people would want: the jet lag from the conference keynote, the inbox that filled up after the press coverage. The false-modesty kind performs humility: humbled to be named, honoured to be asked, still can’t believe it.

Humblebrag examples at work

Offices are full of them, because a straight boast sounds worse than a disguised one. Corporate jargon runs on the same trick, with a plain request in a costume.

• “Sorry for the slow replies, the CEO keeps pulling me into things.”
• “My manager read my report out at the board meeting. So embarrassing.”
• “I never planned to stay this late. The client kept asking for me.”
• In an interview: “My biggest weakness is that I care too much.”

The last one is so well known that giving it now counts as a weakness.

Saying it plainly

A straight brag is shorter and easier to answer. “I got promoted” gets congratulations. “Ugh, the promotion means a longer commute” gets a polite reaction and a private eye-roll. If the news is good, say it as news, once, and let other people do the praising.

Humblebrag translated

The LinkedIn version has its own grammar. “Humbled to announce” opens a boast. “I wasn’t going to post this, but” means it was always going to be posted. “Grateful for the journey” usually follows a new job title. The LinkedIn speak translator turns posts like these back into plain English, which is usually one short sentence. In the LinkedIn post game, you get six posts a day and pick the plain news behind each one.

A post about learning to think outside the box on a 6 am run counts twice: once for the run and once for the box.

Humblebrags at review time

The annual self-review is a humblebrag with a form attached. “My weakness is that I take on too much for the team” is a boast about being a team player, filed under development areas.

In the out-of-office

An auto-reply is the most honest email anyone sends: out until Monday, ask Priya. The conference one is the exception. “I’m away speaking at a summit in Lisbon” tells every sender where you are and why it matters.

In the meeting

Spoken humblebrags start with an apology. “Sorry, I’ve had two hours’ sleep, the launch went better than expected.” “Ignore my background, I’m calling from the airport lounge.” They’re easy to spot, because the apology is never for the thing that went wrong.

A Twitter account in 2010

The word is humble plus brag, an oxymoron on purpose. It’s credited to Harris Wittels, a comedy writer and producer on Parks and Recreation. In 2010 he started a Twitter account, @Humblebrag, that reposted examples, many from celebrities. Two years later he published a book of them, with false modesty in its subtitle.

One dictionary dates the word earlier than 2010, so he may have popularised it rather than invented it. Either way, the account is why most people know it.

The most useful word of 2011

In its vote on the words of 2011, the American Dialect Society named humblebrag the most useful word of the year. It was also a nominee for word of the year, which went to occupy.

A LinkedIn post with humblebrag in it

LinkedIn post, Monday 5:04 am

Not to humblebrag boast, but I was too busy closing our biggest quarter ever to post about it sooner. Grateful to the team who carried me there.