
Calling Yourself ‘Humbled’ Doesn’t Sound as Humble as It Used To - azuajef
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/magazine/calling-yourself-humbled-doesnt-sound-as-humble-as-it-used-to.html
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lhnz
Most egregious example are the 'status' updates by young entrepreneurs on how
humbled they are to appear within Forbes 30 under 30, etc. Always written as
if they are congratulating their peers (the future world leaders).

It's the opposite of being humbled. It's amusing (and a little disturbing)
that it can be dressed up the way it is.

~~~
irpapakons
Often it's the exact opposite: a way to brag and draw attention to things that
people would otherwise not much care about or consider admirable.

Pretending to be humbled is basically lying about the amount of recognition
you receive in the hopes that new people will be tricked to really consider
you important. Perhaps similar to tagging everything with #blessed on
instagram.

"I'm so humbled and honored and surprised to be/serve as X and I want to thank
my parents / offer mentoring to the less fortunate of you" often after
aggressive pursuit, self-nomination or unacknowledged massive help /
connections to get whatever the thing was.

~~~
taneq
It's the real life version of saying you don't expect upvotes.

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rejectedstone
This goes back pretty far: "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any
man who was on the face of the earth." Num 12:3 - Written by Moses

~~~
hashkb
Awesome. Whoever wrote the Bible was setting up today's assholes for a "I'm
basically Moses"

~~~
rangibaby
The Bible and other religious texts have a lot of accumulated wisdom in them.
I think of them as the Wikipedias of their time, edited by everyone, partly
useful information, partly full of shit, accepted uncritically by the more
naive

~~~
3minus1
Interesting but I disagree. Basically the entire Old Testament is edited and
to enforce a certain interpretation of the Israelites' history, namely that
turning away from God caused bad things to happen. It has a fairly consistent
and coherent agenda.

~~~
rangibaby
I would love to talk about that more. It's been a long time since I have read
the Old Testament. I meant to buy the "Five Books of Moses" translation a few
years back.

~~~
3minus1
Hi, it's something I learned about when I took this class:
[https://www.coursera.org/learn/bible-
history](https://www.coursera.org/learn/bible-history)

It looks like it's actually being offered again, and just started this week if
you're interested.

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mlnhd
You think you're really righteous? You think you're pure at heart? Well, I
know I'm a million times as humble as thou art.

~~~
pc86
Never thought I'd see a Weird Al quote on HN.

~~~
TeMPOraL
My favourite line from that song is "On my knees day and night scorin' points
for the afterlife".

~~~
aaronchall
Another apropos line: "So don't be vain, and don't be whiny, or my brother I
might have to get medieval on your hiney!"

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throwanem
Did it ever sound humble? Complimenting oneself publicly on one's supposedly
exceptional humility has always seemed an unintentional sarcasm to me.

~~~
midgetjones
I think there's a difference between saying something was "a humbling
experience" and "I am exceptionally humble".

~~~
iuguy
"The best at being humble. Everyone's talking about how humble I am."

~~~
hueving
"in a way, being gracious is my weakness" :)

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linkergames
With the risk of feeling the power of the ban hammer, here is the obligatory
reference

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzUKcXxbU4U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzUKcXxbU4U)

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nradov
Sonia Sotomayor said that she was "very humbled" when President Obama
nominated her for the Supreme Court. I'm sure it's really humbling when the
President calls you up and tells you that you're the best judge in the
country. ;-)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor_Supreme_Court_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_Sotomayor_Supreme_Court_nomination#Day_1_.28July_13.29)

~~~
3dk
A more appropriate word would be "honored".

~~~
labster
I prefer to go with "proud" myself.

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midgetjones
Overuse has killed the actual meaning of a lot of words. Don't even get me
started on 'genius'.

~~~
Chirael
And all the "gourmet" items to be found in the discount aisle of the grocery
store.

~~~
rangibaby
There's no such thing as gourmet coffee, gourmet rolls or gourmet pizza.
Gourmet means one thing: “We're going to charge you more.” The same is true of
the word cuisine. The difference between food and cuisine is sixty dollars.

\- George Carlin

~~~
kjdal2001
I like a George Carlin quote as much as the next guy, but this doesn't make
sense. If gourmet means it costs more, then there absolutely is gourmet
coffee, rolls and pizza.

~~~
chc
He means the difference is not in the coffee — that "gourmet" is a price tag
modifier, not a food modifier.

------
sametmax
One good example of this bullshit is the last years of Bill Gates PR. People
"spontaneously" coming to social networks to state how great and humble he is.

E.G this fantastic piece of "interview":
[http://imgur.com/gallery/DTDsH0P](http://imgur.com/gallery/DTDsH0P)

I still wonder how it can remotely work. But it does. Read the comments below
the pictures, it's crazy.

It's like in big announcements when people are jumping around saying they are
all "so excited". I usually stop listening after somebody used those 2 worlds,
there are people finding this is a demonstration of enthusiasm.

~~~
WhitneyLand
Why do you think he's not humble? Of all the billionaires I've seen talk he
appears to be a pretty decent and grounded person.

~~~
sametmax
Have you read the same interview ?

It's like you try to get a job and the ask "what's you biggest weakness ?" and
you answer "I can't say, but people usually say I'm too invested in my work".

Why do I even have to explain that ?

Gates PR works so well I even have to rewrite the list of all the horrible
stuff he's responsible for in the 90's because people keep forgetting. This is
terrible, and a reason politicians and big companies manage to get away again
and again with bad behavior.

~~~
digler999
I'll excuse all his technical and business misdeeds from 20-30 years ago if he
_cures malaria_. Or even if he scrapes a double-digit percentage gain against
the disease. The world has much bigger problems than some dickhead breaking a
standard to get a leg-up on his competition. Or buying a competitor and
preventing some bullshit technology from budding as early as it otherwise
would have.

~~~
sametmax
Corrupting governments is not misdeeds.

And by the way, I got malaria. While working for the Gates foundation in
Africa.

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hashkb
I had a bit when I was 10 or so where I'd go to great lengths to explain the
magnitude of my humility. If 10-year-old me was cynical enough to develop a
routine about it... how has it ever worked?

Humility, grace, rudeness, attractiveness... these are all judgments that
can't be made about yourself, only by/about others.

------
warent
If you're looking for an easy drop-in word, I recommend "privileged"

It's certainly a privilege... I'm privileged to be a part of... etc

It seems to be an effective device for communicating your feelings without
coming across as arrogant

~~~
pimlottc
I generally agree, although the term has started to become somewhat
politically overloaded these days - white privilege, check your privilege,
etc. Using it in the way you suggest should be rather uncontroversial but I
would make sure to consider your audience.

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Mikeb85
Ah, the 'ol humble brag. If you call yourself humble, you're basically saying
other people think you're awesome. I don't bother anymore, I just accept
compliments, and if people ask me if I think I'm awesome, I say yes, even
though I'm aware of my own failures (to be fair, everyone has them, so it
doesn't detract from one's awesomeness).

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rokhayakebe
Test this, next time someone offers you a compliment answer "I think you are
right, Thank You," or "I agree, Thank You."

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strider12
When an athlete says they are humbled, it's the most genuine use -- because to
perform at a top level, you have to 'go back to your roots' \- the
lonely/early/late days that got you there. So they say it simply to remind
themselves that the basics that got them there, is not forgotten and has to be
implemented everyday.

~~~
untilHellbanned
Also physical performance for most sports is objective and earned, whereas
most other scenarios it was a subjective process decided by other humans.

~~~
rangibaby
Until every sport adopts the powerlifting or MMA model where there are drugs
and non-drug competitions there is no way of knowing. There's a Lance
Armstrong in every sport.

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bjacokes
One phrase that I've noticed (over)used in NFL broadcasts is "give credit".
After a win, a star player will often "give credit" to the other team, their
defense, lesser-known players, etc. It seems to be a decent way to act humble
when you're the center of attention, without saying "humbled".

~~~
jogjayr
I agree. In current usage "humbled" just seems to mean "I'm staying humble
despite my achievement" rather than what the word actually means. Even if it's
over-used, it shows class to give credit to the people around you. Everyone
helped at least a little.

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teh_klev
Heh, the next article I read on HN after this one was:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13487175](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13487175)

[http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/19/army-picks-
sig...](http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/01/19/army-picks-sig-sauer-
replace-m9-service-pistol.html)

Within a few sentences I read:

 _" We are both humbled and proud that the P320 was selected by the U.S. Army
as its weapon of choice," Ron Cohen, chief executive officer of Sig Sauer,
said in a statement to Military.com"_

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woliveirajr
> "We are living in humbling times. People are humbled all over the place.
> Lately it’s pro forma (...) for politicians, athletes, celebrities and other
> public figures to be vocally and vigorously humbled by every honor awarded,
> prize won, job offered, record broken, pound lost, shout-out received,
> “like” copped and thumb upped.

Everything that becomes a commonplace looses it's strength. Be it "honored",
"humble", "didn't expect", "didn't think I would deserve it" and so on.

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RodericDay
Reminds me of that classic article "On Smarm"

[http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977](http://gawker.com/on-smarm-1476594977)

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scolfax
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R42mFx3_ss](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R42mFx3_ss)

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siculars
Here's another overused word: passion.

~~~
jschwartzi
Which in a more literal sense means you have amorous feelings toward the thing
you're passionate about.

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kj01a
Somebody's been listening to the Hello Internet podcast.

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brlewis
For those of you looking for a tl;dr version, here's a quote that gives you
the general tone:

 _We live in a rabidly anti-elitist society that is also in slack-jawed,
slavish thrall to elites, and it’s no joke to try to maintain homeostasis
between “Look at me!” and “Who, me?”_

I'm trying to remember who it was that once talked about judging a community
by two things: its actual behavior, and what it holds up as ideal behavior. I
think it's actually a good thing that society started to hold up as an ideal
the idea of being humbled by success.

I found the superior, smug tone of the article annoying. Some attempt at
sounding more humble would have produced a better article.

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brangalina4eva
Modesty is my best quality.

~~~
lordnacho
There's nobody more humble than me.

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jlebrech
i'm ever so humble

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umberway
I'm more humble than they are!

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mindcrime
I am awe-inspiringly great at being humble! Nobody does humble like I do. Call
in the next 10 minutes and get my "Awesome Humility in 40 days" starter kit
for half off!

