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Absolutely love this article! This one especially popped out at me > IV Brag Gags: Avoiding Bragging At All Costs I've met too many people that say they "go t

Absolutely love this article! This one especially popped out at me > IV Brag Gags: Avoiding Bragging At All Costs I've met too many people that say they "go to school near Boston" or "work in Mountain View". I don't think it's the intention, but more than the "status anxiety" part sometimes it feels like the other party seems like the listener isn't "worthy" of knowing, or at least should know from the implication if they were.

C4stor 8y ago
Well, I'm guilty of that, but it's because I don't assume people actually know the specific company I work at, or the university I went to. Even if the latter is generally deemed "prestigious", in the end, only a small set of people know it, so it's a generally useless precision. Admittedly, if you work for a let's say a GAFA, you can probably safely assume people know the name. But for let's say MIT, I'd very curious to know which percentage of the us population actually know the name and attach it to academic excellence.
- akhilcacharya 8y ago
  > I don't assume people actually know the specific company I work at, or the university I went to. When I started interning out of state I thought this as well, but then people thought I was just obfuscating going to Duke or UNC (when in reality my actual school was a few tiers lower). In most circumstances where this sort of thing would come up, I would imagine even the general public would understand the weight MIT has - hell, Tony Stark went there! (Also, what's GAFA? Google, Apple, Facebook, Airbnb?)
  - C4stor 8y ago
    Haha, I don't know either Duke or UNC ! (but I'm french, so there's that I suppose...) Around there, GAFA is what you said except it's Amazon and not AirBnb
jacobolus 8y ago
Some people will completely change the way they converse once they find out you have X status marker. A famous elite university is one of those markers that triggers a good number of them. For example, they will instantly switch from friendly to standoffish, or they will redirect the whole conversation to be about this new information, or will start treating their interlocutor as a superior, or asking for some advice/help, or... It’s not clear whether they have some insecurity about their own education, or just curiosity, or what, but it can be a real drag. A different group consider themselves to be similarly elite, and will also completely change their conversation when they find another of their tribe, e.g. start talking about how much better “we” are than those rabble in a clubby way. This can also be super annoying. I assume something similar happens when people find out you are rich, or won a prize, or have famous friends, etc., but “where did you go to school?” is a more common ice breaker than “how fat is your savings account?” Deflection can save a lot of trouble.

C4stor 8y ago

Well, I'm guilty of that, but it's because I don't assume people actually know the specific company I work at, or the university I went to. Even if the latter is generally deemed "prestigious", in the end, only a small set of people know it, so it's a generally useless precision. Admittedly, if you work for a let's say a GAFA, you can probably safely assume people know the name. But for let's say MIT, I'd very curious to know which percentage of the us population actually know the name and attach it to academic excellence.

akhilcacharya 8y ago
> I don't assume people actually know the specific company I work at, or the university I went to. When I started interning out of state I thought this as well, but then people thought I was just obfuscating going to Duke or UNC (when in reality my actual school was a few tiers lower). In most circumstances where this sort of thing would come up, I would imagine even the general public would understand the weight MIT has - hell, Tony Stark went there! (Also, what's GAFA? Google, Apple, Facebook, Airbnb?)
- C4stor 8y ago
  Haha, I don't know either Duke or UNC ! (but I'm french, so there's that I suppose...) Around there, GAFA is what you said except it's Amazon and not AirBnb

jacobolus 8y ago

Some people will completely change the way they converse once they find out you have X status marker. A famous elite university is one of those markers that triggers a good number of them. For example, they will instantly switch from friendly to standoffish, or they will redirect the whole conversation to be about this new information, or will start treating their interlocutor as a superior, or asking for some advice/help, or... It’s not clear whether they have some insecurity about their own education, or just curiosity, or what, but it can be a real drag. A different group consider themselves to be similarly elite, and will also completely change their conversation when they find another of their tribe, e.g. start talking about how much better “we” are than those rabble in a clubby way. This can also be super annoying. I assume something similar happens when people find out you are rich, or won a prize, or have famous friends, etc., but “where did you go to school?” is a more common ice breaker than “how fat is your savings account?” Deflection can save a lot of trouble.