Regrettably, most people cannot: Folks reflexively react to errors by either externalizing blame or, more problematically, hitting themselves with self-deprecatory, ad hominem invective.

FORBES: 10 Responses To Foul-ups That Foster Success

His manifest brilliance and energy remain, along with the bravodo, but these days, the weapon he wields with visitors is likely to be self-deprecatory humor, not intimidation.

FORBES: Larry Ellison

However the greatest stir, of course, was provoked by Peter Robinson's suitably self deprecatory account of his inadvertent plunge into the Koi carp fish pond in his back garden.

BBC: 2011: The accidental election

Generally when the sons and daughters of Australian immigrants appear on prime-time reality television shows it is with a cooking utensil or a recipe in hand (good food, combined with self-deprecatory humour, have long offered new arrivals here the quickest route to acceptance and assimilation).

BBC: Reality TV tackles immigration