This morning I was excited to discover that Jane Austen invented the “humble brag.” Sitting there on the 4 Train into Manhattan, re-reading Pride & Prejudice (and by re-reading, I might mean reading for the first time ever. Pretty sure I only read the parts necessary to get me through undergrad and then watched a movie version), I stumbled upon this:
“Nothing is more deceitful,” said Darcy, “than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast.”
“And which of the two do you call my little recent piece of modesty?”
“The indirect boast; for you are really proud of your defects…”
But, alas, a quick Google search tells me that I’m not the first to make this connection.
KEN WHEATON 