Surprise, Surprise

There is such a thing as a back-handed compliment. They’re not too difficult to spot. Here are a few examples:

"You are a little stupid. But I think everybody else is really stupid, so you’re doing great."

"No, you’re not fat. Last year you were an oil tanker. This is much better."

Compliments designed to make a person feel better by lowering their standing by lowering the baseline even further are not compliments at all. They’re insulting to the person complimented and serve little function save to make the speaker look good.

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