I may have something intelligent to say about these concepts as they apply to me personally at some point, but at the moment, I'm just concerned with the words. Because I don't think the words mean what we think they mean. Perhaps this is a result of my modest imagination or my humble education, but as far as I know, each word basically means poor, or rather poverty. When a person downplays his achievements or abilities, we always call it being modest or being humble. OK, not always, but usually. Mostly, the words alone are applied to a modest upbringing or humble beginnings, again just another way to say poor.
The noun form of both words nearly always applies to, if not poor-mouthing oneself (or as they say in California, poor self-esteem), then a certain quietness of behavior, dress or mien that might best be described as the opposite of obnoxiousness. (There ought to be a word obnoxion; I have loads of people I could apply it to!) I think strictly speaking the poor-mouthing one is called false modesty or false humility, but I might be wrong. (Is this false modesty?)
What I'm trying to say, badly, is that I'm not sure there's a word in English for what I'm trying to say. That might explain it, or is it more false modesty? I'd love to read some comments, assuming they don't involve predestination. (Just. Don't. Ask.)
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