Mar 26, 2009
The shame of self-promotion is only slightly assuaged by saying we’re not ashamed.
Like this post?
Whenever the expression “shameless plug” is self-applied, you can be reasonably confident the promoter is actually feeling a fair amount of shame.
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Related:
• Putting others first by promoting yourself.
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shameless plug: you’re awesome.
I think it means I’m acting in a way that seems shameful. And you’re left to decide if I’m proud of acting this way and I OUGHT to be ashamed or if I’m really ashamed and doing it anyway.
No shame in selling t-chisrts, either.
or t-shirts, for that matter.
Really? I hadn’t ever thought of it this way. Maybe because alot of “shameless plugs” are for someone else’s product, and in promoting those there should be no shame.
Or saying VISIT MY BLOG BECAUSE I GET PAID PER CLICK!
actually i don’t. but if i did, i would be totally shameless about it.
doing something well should be rewarded. before you get rewarded, peeps need to know you do something well.
i guess this is a long way of saying: right on, Abraham!
This is like “In my humble opinion” which means: “In my forceful opinion”.
Or “It’s not about the money”, which means: “It’s about the money.”
Or “I’ll try and keep this brief” which means: “Fasten your seatbelts folks, you’re here for the night.”
Or “Think nothing of it” which means: “Think something of it.”
Would there be less shame if you just outright called it a “shameful plug”?
(I used to put my blog address in the body of all my posts…but that made me feel really stupid. I don’t do it anymore. I guess I was shamed.)
Hm. I’d have to disagree. I shamelessly plug myself all the time and feel nothing. But I have a less than normal sense of propriety, too.
Is there a difference between self-conscious use of the phrase and embarrassed use?
Usually I’d use it to disclose a prior interest. When I “shamelessly plug” the Gideons, it’s not because I’m ashamed of an organisation that has placed more than 1 billion copies of the scriptures in 188 countries across every continent of the world and continues to do so at the rate of more than 1 million each week. It’s because I’m associated.
[...] That’s all. Just wanted to promote myself. [...]
You made me think. Okay. Done. No, no shame. It’s cheap, I’ll give you that. And losing it’s power through overuse. First time it was used on me, I thought “How bold.” Now, even though I use it, I think, “How lame.”
ha! – I just used that phrase twice in one email. And yes, it did have a bit of shame behind it.
[...] a couple shameless plugs (and by that I mean shameful plugs) since I have just given myself permission to write whatever I [...]