Back handed compliments

When working in a University a student who was pleased that I had been able to help him with a difficult to source book said 'I bet you were really cute when you were young'.I was under forty at the time...

My father died this year aged 98. I showed a friend a photo of him taken at my wedding in 1969, she said,"Oh my God, he's drop dead gorgeous, who would have thought you had a father like that"? Eŕrrrrrrrr!

My young niece once said to me 'I hope I look as good as you when I'm your age'. Still not sure about that one.

My ex husband's nan once said to me that I should wear skirts more often to show off my nice sturdy legs.

My mother was good at these. She used to say things like 'I think you're quite pretty really' (the words 'despite what everyone else thinks' going unsaid).

My late gran told me that I looked really nice and should wear dresses more often. "especially now that you are not so bloomin' fat" she added.

A friend of my SIL commented to her that I had lovely eyes, she agreed and said they're her one redeeming feature!

When I was teaching, we were all dressing up for red nose day. I wore a long blond wig and bright red lipstick. A 10 year boy in my class looked at me and exclaimed, 'Wow, Mrs G, you look 50 years younger.' I was about 48 at the time

When DS1 was at infant school his headmistress told me that he was a very bright boy .. followed by "Does he take after his father?" .. Nice!!!

I once(stupidly) told my Dad that I was fighting scrawniness. He replied 'and winning dear, winning.'
I went back to Weightwatchers

Also having done the Moonwalk, 26 long miles through the night with my feet covered in blisters and feeling a bit weird as I'm diabetic but hadn't eaten much, I said to a friend how amazed I was to have done a marathon. Her response? Well you only walked it!

My mother in law once said, "I can see you've lost weight but you've still got fat legs!" Never did like her much and it would seem the feeling was mutual. . .

Many years ago, we`d only been married about a year, my little sister, aged 4, stood in our kitchen and looked around, then said "Oooh, I do like this house......isn`t it lovely and dirty?" May I just say, we`d recently had a kitchen fire and the ceiling was very grey with a hole in it.

When I was a child my great aunt said to me" its a good job you're clever because you'll get nowhere with your looks"

In the early '70s when mini and maxi skirts were both popular, I made a couple of on-the-knee skirts for work. My husband said that I should either wear maxis or minis to 'distract from my knobbly knees'! The 'compliments' haven't got any better since - the best I can expect (and even that very rarely) is 'Is that new?', usually about something I've been wearing for ages.

I just love all these. They are so natural..I have had some but cant recall at the moment. Keep them coming!

A work colleague and her husband were giving me a lift home from work. For some reason we were discussing make up and she said she didn't bother wearing make up as her husband liked her to look natural "Not that natural" he said. She and I laughed but I'm not sure it was a joke!

I've mentioned this one before but a work colleague of mine said to me one day "Oh, I really like your dress, where did you get it from?". "Anne Brookes", I said. "It's really nice", she said, "do they do fashionable things as well". It made me laugh because she was always putting her foot in it with people and I knew she didn't mean it quite how it came out.

I was chuffed when a work colleague asked me if I'd lost weight but not so chuffed when she continued that she thought I must have because my bum took up a bit less room in the corridor.

Mind you this was the same colleague who decided to mend a bookcase with a hammer in the classroom as I was teaching because she felt my voice was loud enough to be heard over the hammering.

An ex of mine would sometimes look searchingly at me and say, with passion, 'Why do I love you so much?'' I took it as a tremendous compliment. Sometime later I discovered that he had NPD (clinically diagnosed) He couldn't understand how somebody as wonderful as him could 'love' somebody like me ?

Years ago, my "young at heart" neighbour wanted to get some weightloss pills from a clinic, and was telling me she had been unable to, as one needed to be 3 stone or more overweight.
Suddenly, a gleam came into her eyes.. "You could get them for me!" she exclaimed.

I was once told "you're lucky, when you're ill, you look ill" !!!

I recently decorated my bland, cream coloured bedroom in white, with (tasteful - so I thought) touches of hot pink and animal skin.
My friend asked to see my work.
"Oh! Its lovely!" She exclaimed. "It looks like a whores boudoir!"

That's funny MissAdventure.

My daughter was helping me shop for a dress, I tried one on for her to see and she said 'well it's alright for you Mother but I wouldn't wear it'

I know that feeling f51 When my twin daughters were just babies an elderly lady told me how beautiful they were. Any feelings of joy were soon dispelled when she added, " they're not a bit like you are they?"