Email Bragnature
An email bragnature is an email signature, also known as an email footer, comprised mostly of acronyms, accolades, and titles one writes of his or herself.
A simple email signature with a job title and contact information is not a bragnature because this information is most likely of use to general email recipients.
A lengthy email signature with unrelated titles, awards, and mostly meaningless (to most other people) acronyms is a bragnature. The general feel one gets of the bragnature is that the composer is very conceited and feels it critical to let others know of all titles and accomplishments even though they may be anywhere on the spectrum from impressive to ridiculous.
The email bragnature is not to be confused with the overly decorated email signature, that is to say, when an individual uses images and formatting in an attempt to turn the email signature into a great work of art that most modern email clients simple strip off the message when displaying it to the recipient thus resulting in a colossal waste of the designer's own time and effort. The email bragnature may or may not be decorated in such a way and it is irrelevant to the definition. The most common email bragnature is composed entirely out of plain ascii text. One can certainly combine the bragnature with graphics and attachments to further compound the obnoxiousness quality of the correspondence.
Contents
NPD - Recommended acronym for the bragnature
One obvious characteristic of NPD, or Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a need for admiration. People with this condition are frequently described as arrogant, self-centered, manipulative, and demanding. They may also concentrate on grandiose fantasies (e.g. their own success, beauty, brilliance) and may be convinced that they deserve special treatment. These characteristics typically begin in early adulthood and must be consistently evident in multiple contexts, such as at work, in relationships, and how they compose their emails!
The most honest bragnature would contain the acronym NPD along with a URL pointing to a definition, or better yet, the entire definition attached to the email footer below all of the other acronyms and titles.
Joe Blow Ph.D., MSNBC, Community Organizer, BOE Janitorial Custodian Engineer, MD, FRCSC, MPH, MSc, MBA, PhD-again, Highschool Diploma, and NPD type person.
This guy is a doctor in some unspecified field, likes to boss around his neighbors, cleans toilets by day and is overly involved in everyone else's lives by night. He will probably end up being mayor of your town.
Create your own bragnature
Utilize a degree from an organization without accreditation if you lack a legitimate one. Join some non-profit organizations that will allow you to make up an important sounding title for yourself. There are even groups that will take your money and give you a very impressive sounding title with an acronym. Think of all of the obscure hobbies you have been involved with over the years and barrow some technical sounding jargon from them to create a title. If all of that fails you, there are some web sites that can assist you in creating a title for yourself.
Real life example bragnatures
We'd like to hear from you! Share your favorite bragnature with us created by someone you've received an email from. There's no need to make one up, the wealth of real email bragnatures out there is endless.
The nobody amateur radio operator
Don Brown (.-- ----- .- ..-.) ARRL VE, FE, WØAF Emergency Coordinator ARES/ARRL Mills County, IA
To be a member of the ARRL only requires you pay money and have a radio license that many 10-year-olds acquire, to be a VE requires nothing special as they pretty much let anyone with a license do this without regards to actual working knowledge of radio, and the rest is volunteer things that this guy again pays a bunch of money to do, is not really utilized anymore, and carries no real clout with anyone outside of a few amateur radio fan boys.
This is a verified bragnature. This guy coordinates nothing of importance but desires deeply to have your admiration and respect.
keywords: conceited arrogant narcissistic
