Puffing up leads to a distorted perception of oneself
The verb puff up makes reference to causing an individual to develop a feeling of vanity or increase their arrogance . The etymological root of the term appears in the Latin word vanescĕre , which can be translated as "vanish" .
Return or become conceited
For example: "I don't want to make Nicolás proud with my words, that's why I haven't said anything to him, but it seems to me that he is doing an extraordinary job," " Fame is not going to make me proud, I keep in mind that popularity is usually fleeting and "I'm still the same person as always," "The young man began to get conceited with the first praise and ended up fighting with his friends."
Being puffed up, therefore, is something negative. He who is conceited becomes conceited and feels exaggerated pride in some achievement. That is why the usual thing is that no one wants to adopt this attitude or want to puff up another subject.
Not being conceited can be a personal challenge in some cases. Suppose a soccer player makes his professional debut at 17 years of age and a few months later he is called up by the coach of the national team to play in an important tournament. The player becomes the figure of the championship and then manages to sign a million-dollar contract with one of the most important clubs in the world . Admired by many people and praised by sports journalism, it can be difficult for the young man not to become conceited.
As we can see in the different examples, this verb has a transitive use and a pronominal use. The first is necessary when the action falls on another person, who from a grammatical point of view would be the direct object : "Through his questionable way of raising them, he managed to make his children proud." The other, on the other hand, is useful when the action falls on the same subject: "She became conceited since she was appointed boss and her treatment towards us changed completely."
Social consequences
Being conceited is something that can happen to all of us, but some people are much more prone to it than others. It all starts with upbringing, as it often does with any other aspect of personality. Young children who act arrogant at school often receive ridicule and indifference from those who despise them. This can lead to a very bad start to the student experience, leading to adolescence and adulthood that are quite deficient on a social level.
No one in their right mind would reject friendship, love, healthy and spontaneous relationships with other living beings. There is always some psychological problem behind the attitudes that lead to loneliness . When family members and teachers deify a child for his high intellectual abilities, something relatively common, he can become conceited and contemptuous towards others, closing the doors to a healthy childhood.
In youth and adulthood, sometimes it is work or school colleagues who make someone proud. This can happen with a peer or a superior, generally out of fear of telling the truth . Lack of sincerity is probably the worst thing that can characterize an interpersonal relationship of any kind. If we are in an environment where we could enrich ourselves from other people's opinions but we only receive praise, and we are not aware of it, it is likely that we will come to think that we are above the rest.
Believing yourself above the rest never has a happy ending
Another meaning
Another meaning of puffing up that the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) mentions in its dictionary refers to what happens to a fruit when its core rots or dries up . When puffed up, the fruit remains vain . The term vain , in this context, is used to refer to a nut whose interior substance has rotted or dried out. This can occur for a variety of reasons; for example, due to frost.