…ideally one that was both genuine and that you had the confidence and self awareness to interpret as kind. And for bonus points, what’s one you’ve given?
I’m thinking back to the guy in group therapy years ago who told me he always thought of people who swore as not knowing any better words, but that I obviously knew better words and just also swore and even used them artistically and that’s just really stuck with me. Sometimes I wonder how much of my self esteem has suffered not just because I’ve been told not to brag, but also because I’m extremely weird so the compliments I do receive often reflect that.
My bonus one (and I’m not sure how well he was able to take it) was that one of my fellow psych nurses was frequently and obviously terrified any time shit hit the fan, but that somehow still he’d never once failed to have my back. He’d be stuttering the whole way through an incident but I’d walk out of the med room with both halves of a B52 and he’d take one of the syringes without a second thought. He was literally the epitome of “courage isn’t not being scared, it’s being willing to face it.” I should find a nice presentation of that quote somewhere to send him because I’m not sure I phrased it well at the time.
From a French colleague:
“You are the kind of Italian we like in France.”
“Wonderful, but I’m American.”
“I doubt that”
I’ve had something similar quite a few times.
Meet someone, talk for a bit, “where are you from?” u.s. “really? You don’t seem American”
They meant it as a compliment
Is there anywhere in the world where this isn’t a compliment?
I was dancing at a club a couple years ago and someone came up to me and yelled without pause “Are you a boy or a girl you’re gorgeous”
that sounds like a fantastic compliment! your beauty is universal 😮😍
The best I’ve ever received! 🥰
I had to have an abdominal ultrasound done once and the tech told me I have a great pancreas, “the most beautiful she’s ever seen”. I didn’t know what to say but it made me happy.
Hide Your pancreas
I was once walking past a gay bar with a buddy of mine. A drunk guy stumbled out, looked us both up and down and yelled “Phwoar! That’s a porno I wanna watch!”.
A neighbor saw me walking barefoot to my mailbox and complimented me on my healthy feet.
Hackles went up thinking he was some foot fetishist who was going to get weird on me. Nope, just a medical person of some sort that works with feet a lot and I genuinely have healthy arches and mobile toes. At least I choose to believe that explanation he gave. Otherwise, I have to assume my neighbor is jerking it every time I walk outside.
Obligatory: Please post feet pics. I’m a bit of a foot-doctor myself.
Hawt. I mean, you have very healthy toes or something. Bonus points for not needing woolen socks.
Stop. I can only get so erect.
“You look like a spy” Which is sadly why my career as a spy never got off the ground.
I was told I looked like a cop several times back when I associated with less desirable parts of society. I think the reason they felt that way is because I showered daily, combed my hair, and had an acceptable level of personal hygiene.
“You’re almost an intellectual.” Which I think will be the name of my autobiography.
I’ve been complimented on my voice before, and those aren’t weird compliments. But delivery is important. I had a coworker tell me, “Your voice is great!” And of course I’m thankful. But then deadpan, she goes, “You should do ASMR so I can listen to it.”
Now that was a weird compliment.
ASMR people are a different breed. I’m married to one. The videos feel intensely intimate, but she’ll just listen to them on the couch like it’s the radio.
Meanwhile I get self conscious if someone walks by while I’m watching a video game cutscene lol
A couple years agoI (at the time mid 30s male) was coming back from a movie with my GF at about 11pm waiting for a bus in the UK. Two moderately drunk guys (looked to be about 10 years younger?) were waking down the same sidewalk, and about 2 steps after they passed us, one of them turns around and goes “Mate…”, me and my GF look over and he’s looking me up and down, “… NICE ass!” then fist bumps me and keeps walking.
She was like “what the fuck was that?”
I said “meh, it happens”.
When we started dating my partner told me I look like Jeff Goldblum (I am a female). He then bought us a Jeff Goldblum curtain for the bathroom and a portrait we put on the wall, as well as several records, keychains and cushions with Jeff (including that Jurassic park one). It’s weird as fuck but Jeff’s a handsome guy and a cool fucking person so I’m not too worried about it.
A girl sidled up to me at college when I was About 18 and just said “you have beautiful veins”
Do/did you do a lot of cardio? Runners, bikers, swimmers, etc have the BEST veins (you need em)! - was phlebotomist, now am nurse.
My college had a very strong nursing program, and that was a surprisingly common compliment.
Oh my god I have had this exact same compliment.
Actually I still get this one infrequently at the gym, but they say “nice vascularity” so it’s not weird at all when you put it like that
I’ve heard from several women that veiny forearms are sexy, and I am inclined to agree despite being a hetero male lol
“Wanna see them engorged?”
It was the middle of summer and I was jogging the last leg of a 20km lake circuit with my shirt off, sweating like crazy, and a guy drove past, leaned out the window, and yelled “My wife likes what she sees!”
Not especially weird compliment just weird that it came from the husband.
I was in my early 20s and was visiting a friend’s house. His wife had a friend visiting that I’d never met. We were introduced and the first words she said to me were “Do you know your features are wasted on a guy?” and then went on to provide specific details.
We were married a year later. And that was 30 years ago.
Especially eyelashes. It’s bizarre to me that eyelashes are considered feminine when increased eyelash thickness / length is practically a male secondary sex characteristic (turns out testosterone doesn’t magically skip your eyelashes). I’ve always wanted write a historical fiction femdom porn where the men dress like birds of paradise just for the principle of the thing; in nature males are more often the “fairer” sex, lol.
Man what happened to men’s fashion? We went from heels and frills to grey on black and it’s awful.
THAT’S WHAT I’M SAYING.
I’m a switch and the maledom porn is on FIRE with hot Scottish werewolves and vampires flying helicopters. Then femdom has weird goblin men crawling on the floor eating shit. I’m sure that’s the lid for somebody’s extremely bizarre pot but it’s a bizarre disparity.
WHERE ARE THE PERIOD PIECES WITH HEELS AND ELABORATE WIGS???
“You have really hard bones”. By two doctors in different hospitals. At least I took it as a compliment. They may have been complaining.
A girl in college once told me I have “beautiful, horse-like legs”. I did martial arts at the time and my calves and thighs were very well toned, but I was actually a little self-conscious about them, and I had never considered horses to be particularly beautiful so I kind of took it as an insult after walking away from the conversation. It wasn’t until I relayed the story to a colleague a few months later that they told me it was probably a genuine compliment.
