35 Compliments That Came Out All Wrong
‘You actually look good!’
Paying someone a compliment is tricky business. You have to be specific enough for it to be meaningful, but not so specific that it verges on insulting. Case in point: “You look so nice today!” While on the surface, this communicates that someone’s appearance is pleasant, the regrettable addition of “today” is load-bearing enough to cancel out everything you said before it. You might as well have said, “I see you decided to stop being ugly for a change!” Every word is crucial.
Redditors have remembered the times they, or someone else, fumbled hard in the middle of offering a compliment, and there really should be some sort of class on this particular subject.