# Insults that are more like compliments. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 21, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383 "2013-09-21T15:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/21 "2013-09-22T13:44:48Z")
“Godless heathen!” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/22 "2013-09-22T13:48:57Z")
I had a difficult time growing up, being taller, smarter, better looking and more athletic than the other children. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/23 "2013-09-22T20:24:31Z")
“They say no man is an island, but I think you’re the exception.” ---
**Author:** ![claramorena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@claramorena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/claramorena)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/24 "2013-09-22T20:53:15Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I had a difficult time growing up, being taller, smarter, better looking and more athletic than the other children. You poor thing 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/25 "2013-09-22T21:10:44Z")
“You’re so quiet!” I think the appropriate response to that is to just stare at them. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/26 "2013-09-22T21:14:45Z")
“You sure are unique.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/27 "2013-09-22T21:21:23Z")
Someone once told me that I was prettiest ugliest person they’d ever met. I’m still trying to figure that one out. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/28 "2013-09-22T21:29:52Z")
“You just have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Sorry…I’ll try and be dumber next time. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/29 "2013-09-22T21:56:09Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > “You just have an answer for everything, don’t you?” > > Sorry…I’ll try and be dumber next time. It’s not hard to have an answer for everything; having a _good_ answer is a little harder. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/30 "2013-09-23T00:25:18Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Someone once told me that I was prettiest ugliest person they’d ever met. > > I’m still trying to figure that one out. Even if they meant that as a compliment, they had big balls saying that to your face. I have always believed that people secretly like being called snobs. When I’m trying to schmooze certain people, I pretend to ‘insult’ them with that. Works like a charm. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/31 "2013-09-23T00:47:00Z")
I always take bitch as a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/32 "2013-09-23T00:47:51Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Even if they meant that as a compliment, they had big balls saying that to your face. Actually, I think she said I was the “prettiest ugly person” she’d met. Which is still kinda bad, but not AS bad. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/33 "2013-09-23T01:34:14Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Two job-related compsults: > > “Nobody could do the job better than him.” > > “I can’t recommend him highly enough.” “You’ll be lucky if you can get him to work for you.” ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/34 "2013-09-23T02:27:47Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve been called a feminist more than once, by people who meant it as an insult. I’ve been called a liberal more than once by folks hurling it as an insult.😛 ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/35 "2013-09-23T04:43:47Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Someone once told me that I was prettiest ugliest person they’d ever met. Sounds like an ex of mine that said I was the most civilized, intelligent caveman she knew. 🙂 I get the black-on-black ones all the time. I don’t talk like a black person (erudite), I don’t act black (I wasn’t aware everyone else was acting). One of my favorites was “You’re the kind of black guy that doesn’t say nigger.” True, but that’s a slur? Another favorite is a new neighbor (20-something slacker type) saying they had a bottle of wine they couldn’t open. I loaned them a corkcrew and the guy said “Yeah, we saw you moving in and you looked like a guy that would have a corkscrew.” Like a wino? A Frenchman? A sommelier? At the time, I don’t think I’d had ever wine outside a restaurant, and I’m still don’t keep the stuff around; I just had a well-stocked kitchen. My friends, who overheard him, threw the line out for years. 'Yeah, you look like a guy…" ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/36 "2013-09-23T05:06:38Z")
A graduate school professor once told me “Miss, with those questions you sound like an engineer!” “Cool, I happen to be one! Now would it be possible to get an answer? The question is ‘what have we learned from this research’.” (Which still remains the worst waste of research resources I’ve seen, all they’d done was set double precision so they got 16 figures rather than the usual 8, on numbers with a 10% error) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/37 "2013-09-23T07:16:00Z")
“If all your social antennas weren’t broken, you’d see that I love you.” Actually, I’m not sure exactly how it was intended, as my social antennas are all broken. Felt good, though. ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/38 "2013-09-23T07:31:54Z")
Lots of people call me Harry Potter… (but I think they mean Hermione ) ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/39 "2013-09-23T07:37:40Z")
My mother called me “Harvey”, my Dad’s name. She was truly meaning it to be an insult, but I took it as a supreme compliment. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383/40 "2013-09-23T07:58:41Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Someone once said that arguing with me was like being beaten up by a man in a bow tie. Which I thought was a rather apt description of the tone I was trying to achieve. > > Regards, > Shodan Is the bow tie the only thing the man is wearing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insults-that-are-more-like-compliments/669383.md?page=3)