Self-Disparagement

carry coals To be put upon; to submit to degradation or humiliation; to put up with insults; also bear coals. This expression, which dates from 1522, refers to those servants considered the lowest of the low in any household, i.e., the coal and wood carriers, due to the dirty nature of their work. Shakespeare used the phrase in Romeo and Juliet:

Gregory, on my word, we’ll not carry coals. (I, i)

cry stinking fish To badmouth one-self, to belittle or disparage one’s own efforts or character, to put one-self down; to cause others to think ill of one-self. To cry means ‘to sell by outcry,’ ‘to offer for sale by auction,’ or ‘to announce’ (OED). Obviously one who wishes to sell fish will not say it stinks. Crying “stinking fish” is self-defeating, and—inasmuch as what one sells is a reflection of one-self—self-deprecating as well. This picturesque expression has been in use since the mid-1600s.

dig one’s own grave To bring about one’s own downfall, to be the instrument of one’s own destruction.

Of course any apologia is necessarily a whine to some extent; a man digs his own grave and should, presumably, lie in it. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, Letters, 1934)

hide one’s light under a bushel To conceal or obscure one’s talents and abilities, to be excessively modest or unassuming about one’s gifts, to be self-effacing. The allusion is Biblical; in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus urges his followers to let others benefit from their good qualities:

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:15-16)

Bushel in this expression indicates a vessel or container of this capacity and not the measure itself.

stand in one’s own light To injure one’s reputation through brazen conduct; to damage one’s prospects for success through improper behavior. This self-evident expression is infrequently heard today.

Take a fool’s counsel, and do not stand in your own light. (Ben Johnson, A Tale of a Tub, 1633)

take eggs for money To allow another to take unfair advantage of one-self; to let one-self be cheated or imposed upon. The expression appears in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale:

Mine honest friend
Will you take eggs for money? (I, ii)

This expression stems from the fact that eggs were once so plentiful and cheap that they were virtually worthless.

References in periodicals archive ?

“The facing of so vast a prejudice could not but bring the inevitable self-questioning, self-disparagement, and lowering of ideals, which ever accompany repression and breed in an atmosphere of contempt and hate.” —W.E.B.

Critical Thoughts Publishing Release New Book "Destroy the Perceptions: Liberate from the Residue of Slavery in a Changing Society"

It seems questionable to evaluate his achievement on the basis of such self-disparagement.

Leonard Bernstein: The Political Life of an American Musician

My own priest speaks with similar self-disparagement about his own "theological reflections" each time we attend theatre performances together, and yet he, too, like Nichols, always seems absolutely on-target-attentive to the real textures and contours of the artifacts encountered.

Hopkins

Heschel claims that there is a "creeping self-disparagement" about humanity in contemporary literature, and that "moral defamation of man may spell the doom of all of us" (p.

Who Is Man?

Closely related to the language of self-disparagement is a style of speaking which we may call the "language of self-reproach." In this instance the speaker does not convey humility or inferiority.

From the archives

"How can I put this?" Exaggerated self-disparagement as alignment strategy during problematic disclosures by patients to doctors.

Listening for the communicative signals of humor, narratives, and self-disclosure in the family caregiver interview

The Duke, a good friend of the Prince of Wales, was renowned for his unstuffy approach and self-disparagement.

Prince upset by Duke's death

Second, is self-disparagement or abasement a central feature of humility?

CONTEXTUALIZING MODELS OF HUMILITY AND FORGIVENESS: A REPLY TO GASSIN

Dissatisfaction with their appearance can sometimes lead to self-disparagement and intense guilt feelings.

Body image in adolescence: cross-cultural research-results of the preliminary phase of a quantitative survey

But the use of submissiveness, or the lack of it, as a yardstick of individuality reveals the danger of placing all poetic utterances on the same plane, as does the degree of importance placed on the device of artistic self-disparagement in the subsection on self-confidence.

The Female Voice: Lyrical Expression in the writings of Five Italian Renaissance Poets

By skillfully manipulating the biblical principle that self-abasement brings exaltation while pride brings a fall, the villain Tartuffe affects the most shameless self-disparagement, not to cleanse his conscience, but to push Damis deeper into trouble.