I think it comes down to a "trump". I mean, I'm in the lucky position of having friends who know me, know DS, and know we're not obnoxious snots who just like to hear ourselves talk... but still you can't just jump into a conversation with something quite that "out there". Not because it isn't "done" but because part of the bragging that parents do among friends is in a spirit of a very minor one-upping -- not in a hurtful way, just in a "oh I know just what you're talking about, you won't believe what __ did last week that was even more of that", and everyone feels like they have something in common and everyone can contribute their own stories. But if you come in with a blow-everyone-else-out-of-the-water kind of thing, it just shuts it all down.

So even when you're "allowed" to brag, you're not. But I don't think it's always anti-intellectualism, just lack of common ground. kwim? And double-uncomfortable because it's more or less "invisible"... People make assumptions about you and your kid based on age (or height... *sigh*) and then you're stuck having to either play along or correct them... neither of which is very pleasant.... but I think it's probably a lot like the conversational dance that homeschoolers go through trying to figure out if the homeschooler they just met is religious or secular, unschooler or textbook, etc. I find the "bristling" feeling at an incorrect guess is very similar, and the isolation when you find out you're "not one of them" and the conversation fizzles.

Erica