What an embarrassment, those words shrink you instantly, turning complicated people into single moments of failure. We have all been there: falling on stage, zipper down during lectures, calling the instructor Mom, forgetting someone's name seconds after introduction.
Who, nevertheless, determines what's humiliating? Background from culture is important. American dining burping causes embarrassment, but in some civilizations it praises the cook. Some civilizations find public shows of love to be scandalous; others hardly see.
The meanness is how shame persists. Years afterward, that one incident repeats at 3 AM, causing you to cringe into your pillow. Your mind storing a shame reel, forgetting that no one else remembers or cares.