The Holy Airball TikTok Trend Lets You Subtly Brag About Your Accomplishments

Bragging is often seen as boastful and arrogant, basically, an unattractive quality. "I can eat anything and still have abs," "I have like 10 Gucci bags," "My parents bought my car and house so I didn’t have to" — these are all things we’ve heard people say that instantly prompt an eye roll. Because let’s be honest, no one likes it when someone acts like they’re better than everyone else, which is exactly what bragging tends to sound like.

But sometimes, we do earn our bragging rights, whether it’s because we accomplished something amazing, did something extremely difficult, or reached a major life milestone that deserves a shout-out. It’s all about how you do it. Enter the "holy airball" trend on TikTok (also known as the "holy f--king airball"), which strikes the perfect balance between being humble but also showing off a little. Here’s how it works and some of the better examples of it.

The "holy airball" trend is pretty simple to pull off and is basically used to call out something cool or interesting about yourself that someone else misunderstood or downplayed.

Using three photo slides, the first one is reserved for something about you, like a goal or aspiration. The second slide shows someone’s (usually incorrect) assumption about it. And the third slide is used for your mic-drop moment, where you show your goal or aspiration playing out in real life and caption it "holy airball." Here's one example.

Another a pretty great example comes from @dogtorhibz. Her first slide says, "told him I’m gonna be a veterinarian," over a pic of her in purple scrubs with a stethoscope, essentially implying she's going to vet school.

The next slide shares the misconception someone had: "aw so you’re gonna cuddle with kittens all day??" with her cheeky response, "sum like that." Then, bam, in the third slide comes the "holy f-ing airball" moment as she shows a photo of herself caring for an actual lion at a zoo or animal enclosure.

"Holy airball" is basically another way of saying "holy cow" or "OMG," but with a twist, as it's basically calling out how someone missed the mark when they made an assumption about you. An "airball" in basketball is when the ball doesn’t even come close to the hoop, so it’s like a fun way to say to someone, "Yeah, they were way off."

A few of the funnier "holy airball" moments feature sparkly girls dressed for a night out claiming they’re into baseball or fishing, then boom, in the next slide, they’re actually out on a fishing boat reeling in bass. One of the best examples came from @thereelhilarysue.

@brooklynn_walker13 put a little twist on the "holy airball" trend that we can totally appreciate. She starts with, "I told him I’m in love," followed by his sweet response, "Aww I love you too." But the "holy airball" moment? It’s her seeing Outer Banks star Drew Starkey live and in person. (Sorry bro, she wasn’t talking about you.) Here are a few other really great ones.

So, what’s your "holy airball" moment going to be? Are you showing off a skill, major accomplishment, or keep it funny and tag yourself as the one who totally missed the mark, like that bride who told her husband not too get too drunk on their wedding day, only for her "holy airball" moment to be her passed out on the floor in her dress?