the.com/smug

the look that says I know something you don't, even when it doesn't.

means Feeling or showing an irritating excess of satisfaction with oneself or one's situation.

from Smug started life looking, well, polishedit comes from Low German 'smuk,' meaning neat, trim, or pretty, a cousin of the Dutch 'smuk' (finery, ornament). In the 1500s English borrowed it as a compliment: 'smug' meant sleek, spruce, well-groomed. But there's a thin line between looking pleased with how you've turned out and being pleased with yourself, and by the 1700s the word had slid down it entirelyneat on the outside, insufferable underneath.

old norseFrom smugen, meaning neat or trim
meaning driftOnce a compliment, now a slow eye-roll
body languageLives in the half-smile and raised chin
social costStudies link smugness to lower likability fast
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