Humbebrag

Humblebrag

I like words and I like to know what they mean and where they come from. I look up words in a dictionary to find what language our English words come from: French, German, Old English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic to name a few. I don’t have a working knowledge of these languages, but I have books that help me along the way.

It was with some interest that I heard a new word recently. I was sitting at our family table at a wedding reception and one of my sisters leaded over and asked if I had ever heard the word humblebrag. I asked her to repeat it and then immediately looked it up on Google. To my surprise there it was. Since I had never heard the word before I wanted to know all about it.

Humblebrag as defined in the Urban Dictionary means “when a person, usually consciously, tries to get away with bragging about them self by couching it in a phony show of humility.” I asked my sister where she heard the word. She told me it was the title of last week’s sermon at the church she attended. Then she said that, is her opinion, the preacher was a perfect example of this word.

I didn’t need any more information. Over my years of ministry, I have heard more than enough humblebrag. Lest I be found pointing a finger at others, I confess there were times when I majored in humblebrag. Just thinking about the word brought painful memories of self-exaltation under the guise of false humility.

The Bible has much to say about humblebrag, as from Proverbs: “pride lands you flat on your face; humility prepares you for honors.” Lest one gets the idea that humility is groveling, I found this quote someone posted on Facebook: “humility is not thinking less about yourself; it’s thinking about yourself less.”

I like that!