# I think The Simpsons just used a word I kind of invented!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 10, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557 "2012-12-10T01:27:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/1 "2012-12-10T01:27:20Z")
The new ep. of The Simpsons just had a hipster character use the word “humblebrag”.
I think ‘humblebrag’ was stolen from me. I made ‘sneakbrag’. I think someone much savvier with social media saw my new word, tweaked it to replace ‘sneak’ with ‘humble’ and made it much more popular. Now the Simpsons is using it. I think I should be able to still claim it. Can I?
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/2 "2012-12-10T01:46:51Z")
When did you coin sneakbrag? Humblebrag has been around for a while.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/3 "2012-12-10T01:51:41Z")
Y’know, my cat was the original Cheeseburger lover.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/4 "2012-12-10T01:52:10Z")
Define “a while”
eta: that was meant for Telemark. Hrhomer, come on. I’m serious.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/5 "2012-12-10T02:01:43Z")
[relevant _Community_ clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvMOKJugTHU)
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/6 "2012-12-10T02:13:04Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> Define “a while”
>
> eta: that was meant for Telemark. Hrhomer, come on. I’m serious.
At least a couple years:
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704570704576275320082913808.html](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704570704576275320082913808.html)
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/7 "2012-12-10T02:18:41Z")
I think I first saw _Humblebrag_ on Twitter, when Wil Wheaton used it about four or so years ago. He probably got it from elsewhere, my guess somewhere like Reddit. It may even be way way older than that.
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/8 "2012-12-10T02:22:17Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I think I first saw _Humblebrag_ on Twitter, when Wil Wheaton used it about four or so years ago. He probably got it from elsewhere, my guess somewhere like Reddit. It may even be way way older than that.
Cite? That link above isn’t a couple years old, by the way. It’s from April 2011; my usage predates that.
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### Author:  [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/9 "2012-12-10T11:38:01Z")
Can you cite your first usage of “sneakbrag”?
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### Author:  [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/10 "2012-12-10T12:59:34Z")
Even if you could prove you were the first to coin “sneakbrag” - which would take a lot more evidence than you’ve presented here so far - you’d have no claim on “humblebrag”. It’s a different word.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/11 "2012-12-10T13:05:43Z")
I hope that this is a whoosh. In case it isn’t, you can’t claim a thing. Do you seriously not think that there is a possibility that someone else can come up with the same thing as you independently?
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### Author:  [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/12 "2012-12-10T13:17:26Z")
Hajario, I’m serious as cancer. I want to be the coiner of a “thing” sooo badly! I am always making up stuff with my friends, hoping it spreads and gets in to slang usage eventually. It’s possible someone came up with humblebrag in the same timeframe that I came up with sneak brag, but I think it is more likely that one word came from the other.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/13 "2012-12-10T13:37:06Z")
No. It is infinitely more likely that someone else totally independently had the same idea as you as well as many other people over the years. It’s not like it’s a unique concept.
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### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/14 "2012-12-10T13:39:23Z")
A humblebrag and a sneakbrag aren’t even close to the same thing, except for the brag part.
Comedian/writer Harris Wittels has been sharing HumbleBrags on Twitter for a long time, and just released a book of HumbleBrags this year . Does he owe you money?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/15 "2012-12-10T13:39:57Z")
Well, I can’t find any concrete proof of the word _humblebrag_ any earlier than 2011, which doesn’t seem right to me. Every apparent cite earlier is actually a link to a more current page (stupid dynamic webpages confusing the issue).
However, there may be a definitive history of it inside [this book](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1455514187) by comedian Harris Wittels.
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/16 "2012-12-10T13:44:13Z")
When did you first use sneakbrag, Nzinga?
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### Author:  [@chargerrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chargerrich)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/17 "2012-12-10T13:44:21Z")
I will leave the cite for others, but humblebrag has been around for years. I recall it being used in college and that was over 10 years ago!
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### Author:  [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/18 "2012-12-10T13:53:20Z")
I’ve never heard humblebrag, and I only know sneak brag/sneakbrag or stealth brag/stealthbrag from the SDMB but I thought the consensus was that “stealth brag” was way cooler than “sneak brag”.
I spent way too much time combing through search results for stealth brag and sneak brag. Way too much noise, very little signal. How do you search two words and get only results that have those words together? I thought the techniques was to use quotes but searching “sneak brag” brought up all Threads that had both the words sneak and brag but not necessarily together- which meant LOTS of unhelpful results.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/19 "2012-12-10T13:53:29Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#):
>
> I think ‘humblebrag’ was stolen from me.
Yoink!
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### Author:  [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/20 "2012-12-10T14:39:54Z")
A Sneak or Stealth brag is just when you slip a brag into conversation without drawing too much attention to it. Like if I’m telling you a story about taking my daughter to school and casually include that we were driving there in my Ferrari.
A [HumbleBrag](https://twitter.com/Humblebrag)is when someone who has life pretty good complains about that awesome life or pretends life’s a drag while also bragging about it. It’s a special beast and often mis-labeled. Here are[some examples:](http://twistedsifter.com/2011/05/funniest-humble-brags-on-twitter/)
“Wow, we just got mobbed at the airport. I think they thought we were Justin Bieber.” - Adam Levine
“I have got to stop saying yes to every interview request. 9 minutes that felt like a week.” - Patton Oswalt
“Totally walked down the wrong escalator at the airport from the flashes of the cameras… Go me.” - Joe Jonas
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