Meaning
What does Self-Burn, Those Are Rare mean?
Self-burn, those are rare is a reference to a quote from Brooklyn Nine-Nine uttered by Jake Peralta.
The phrase can be encountered both in real life and online when someone accidentally embarrasses themselves.
Origin
What's the origin of Self-Burn, Those Are Rare?
The phrase was first heard in Season 1 Episode 16 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, titled The Party.
It originally aired on February 4th, 2014 and presents the plot of the squad getting invited to a party, where they have to behave properly.
In one of the scenes, Terry Jeffords (played by Terry Crews) is briefing the squad on “adult parties” and how they should behave.
It is in this scene that Jake Peralta (portrayed by Andy Samberg) drops the line “ooh, self-burn, those are rare” after Amy Santiago (acted by Melissa Fumero) says something embarrassing about her high school years.
Spread & Usage
How did Self-Burn, Those Are Rare spread?
The phrase started seeing growing popularity after the release of the episode, however, it didn’t become a truly common occurrence online until 2019.
Since then it can be encountered on a variety of platforms, in a variety of forms, including image macros, comments or titles for media, such as Reddit threads or YouTube videos.

External resources
- Wordreference.com – Self-burn. Those are rare.