# I think The Simpsons just used a word I kind of invented! **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/21 "2012-12-10T16:50:23Z")
So…is your OP a “sneakbrag” or a “humblebrag”? How meta…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/22 "2012-12-10T17:06:32Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > 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. I think you’re vastly underestimating how easy it is for more than one person to independently come up with roughly the same idea at roughly the same time. It happens frequently in science, mathematics, the arts, etc. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/23 "2012-12-10T17:16:42Z")
**Nzinga,** I’m on your side. It’s easy for someone to claim it’s unlikely they stole your intellectual property, but that doesn’t matter. Finder’s Keeper’s is the rule, and since your claim of origin precedes theirs to my knowledge, I think the burden of proof is on them. You called it first. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/24 "2012-12-10T17:43:40Z")
I invented the “Too Slow, Joe” move. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/25 "2012-12-10T17:46:35Z")
This may be the earliest SDMB use. It’s by the OP from May 2010. > [@I cannot believe you are actually making a 37 year old man on a business trip kick your ass.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-cannot-believe-you-are-actually-making-a-37-year-old-man-on-a-business-trip-kick-your-ass/539625/104): > > You know what I hate? Sneak-bragging. That’s that thing where, you pretend to be casually discussing a topic, all the while, trying to work in all the ways you are awesome. > > “What’s your favorite color?” > > “Well, black, because that is the color of my bookcase which holds 500 books. I had more books, but had to _purge_, so I gave away 75% of my collection. Having had learned to read at 2 and a half according to my mom, I decided that my book case one day would be black. Also, since I read so fast that the words are really a blur, I would have to say gray is my favorite color also…since gray is the color of the blur. So, yeah…black and gray are my favorite colors.” ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/26 "2012-12-10T18:05:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This may be the earliest SDMB use. It’s by the OP from May 2010. And still nothing at all like a HumbleBrag. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/27 "2012-12-10T18:06:37Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > And still nothing at all like a HumbleBrag. Sorry, you’re right. That’s the earliest use of sneakbrag that I could find, but the concepts are not the same. ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/28 "2012-12-10T18:14:19Z")
This page has a usage from January of '09: [http://www.gosugamers.net/general/thread.php?id=347786](http://www.gosugamers.net/general/thread.php?id=347786) ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/29 "2012-12-10T18:14:42Z")
[From second page of Google search results for “sneak brag.” 6/23/09](http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=16400765&postcount=10) Edit : Shakes fist at **Mithras** ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/30 "2012-12-10T18:19:40Z")
I remember a thread here where some posters thought the term “asshat” originated on the Dope. It’s a big world out there, y’all. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/31 "2012-12-10T18:28:47Z")
Bear in mind that “humble boast” has been around for ages, and it’s just as likely that humblebrag came from that direction. I’d just like to take this opportunity to copyright the word _shambrag_ © Ashley Pomeroy 2012. That’s my word now, you can’t use it without paying me an appropriate royalty. The only Google return I can find for it is a typo for “chambray” from [a parasite](http://theinvestmentboenker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/hit-up-c-wonder.html).\* In fact I’m not happy with you using “sneakbrag”, it’s too close to my word. The concept is worryingly familiar. - Okay, I’m kidding; you can’t copyright a word (you can trademark it, so perhaps I should launch a line of fake handbags or something). If Apple want to hire me to come up with words, I’m game. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/32 "2012-12-10T18:43:40Z")
“Sneak brag” seems pretty derivative of the much more common term “stealth brag” anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/33 "2012-12-10T18:52:00Z")
> [@Mithras](#): > > This page has a usage from January of '09: > [http://www.gosugamers.net/general/thread.php?id=347786](http://www.gosugamers.net/general/thread.php?id=347786) Since this is the post that crushed my dream, I will start with this post. The first time I ever used sneak brag on the internet was in that post Marley quoted. So the link above has prove of usage before I do. I tried soooo harrrd to find ‘sneak brag’ on google, after I saw it caught on at the dope. I don’t know how you managed to find it (I know \*hateration \*fueled hajario to find it, but I marvel at how \*\*you \*\*found it so much easier than I could.) So that’s it. That’s the end of my journey. I didn’t invent sneakbrag after all. And humblebrag belongs to the masses. I do want to say that sneakbrag, the way I had defined it, is not the way posters in this thread seem to think it is. It isn’t just working something cool into conversation…it has always been about fake complaining about something so that you can actually sneak in a brag. I thought humblebrag meant that too. Thanks for all the replies. Time to call my best friend and give her the bad news. She was rooting for me. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/34 "2012-12-10T18:57:01Z")
As you know, back in 1970… I starred on a series called, Wha’ Happened. And everytime something would go wrong, I’d look at the camera and say: “Hey, wha’ happened?”. We had a lot of fun with that and a lot of other catch phrases: “I got a weal wed wagon!”, and uh, “I can’t do my work!” And I believe I was the first one to use the phrase, “I don’t think so!”. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/35 "2012-12-10T18:57:12Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Since this is the post that crushed my dream, I will start with this post. Thanks for giving me my new sig. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/36 "2012-12-10T18:57:38Z")
At least you had the guts and the honesty to admit you were wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/37 "2012-12-10T19:00:14Z")
> [@hrhomer](#): > > Thanks for giving me my new sig. Yes!!! I’ve got a sig with my name in it! Woo hoo! I feel the same kind of famous that I did when I thought I made up a phrase! ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/38 "2012-12-10T19:51:24Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > (I know \*hateration \*fueled hajario to find it, but I marvel at how \*\*you \*\*found it so much easier than I could.). ??? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/39 "2012-12-10T20:03:01Z")
Jokey poo. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557/40 "2012-12-10T20:06:42Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Jokey poo. Oh good, because you know I love you. BTW, if you put “sneak brag” into Google (with a space and the quote marks) you get the 2009 cite on the first page, probably…if you’re logged into gmail or something else Googley, you get results tuned to what they know about you. That’s one of the reasons why the Dope often is the first of the links for a lot of us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-think-the-simpsons-just-used-a-word-i-kind-of-invented/643557.md?page=3)