What is a show-off and are we right to be irritated by those who display certain types of skills? Be warned, various swear words are analysed in this podcast for their role in categorising annoying people. This podcast considers what constitutes a useful talent, and whether overtly displaying our abilities is necessarily pretentious or ostentatious, and therefore worthy of ire. We analyse both the reason we feel that a show off is annoying and the reason that somebody might show off in the first place. Finally, we delve into the use of rude words to describe irritating people and determine whether they represent a useful taxonomy of human behaviours. A few things we mentioned in this podcast: - Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assholes:_A_Theory - Attempts to define the douchebag: https://thoughtcatalog.com/lorenzo-jensen-iii/2016/06/31-hilarious-ways-to-explain-exactly-what-a-douchebag-really-is/ - Prestige v Dominance, according to Robin Hanson: https://www.overcomingbias.com/2020/11/prestige-is-mob-enforced-dominance.html Find more Cognitive Engineering episodes here http://podcast.alephinsights.com and for more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com Image: Fraser McGruer