Once I was worrying that guys don’t like my looks, to which someone else responded, “Well, you are smart and funny…”
Oh, thanks. At least I have that to fall back on, for the few who manage to get within conversation distance. :rolleyes:
I would love it if someone said this to me. 
Here’s mine:
On another message board I posted a picture of myself and someone thought I was pretty. She said something like “Wow, rinni, you’re gorgeous! I always thought you’d be kind of plain, I don’t know why!” I really, truly don’t know how I was supposed to take that! I wound up not responding at all because I didn’t know what to say.
Just not sure if I should feel bad that I come off as a plain person!
One I actually got from a “friend”, looking at a photo of me from several years before: “Wow, you were good looking when you were younger.”
A friend of mine called me the “Lord of War,” once. And “Oh great vendor of all things destructive,” too, on another occasion. I’m pretty sure they were compliments, to boot.
My SO and I have had trouble with mismatched sex drives over the years. Not too long ago I said something about being sorry that I had such a low sex drive.
His reply: “Oh, it hardly bothers me at all now that you are ugly.”
I once complimented someone on losing weight, then remembered he had AIDS. Not my finest moment.
I don’t think it’s that at all. There’s sort of a stereotype that people who spend time socializing/chatting on the 'net are doing so because they lack other options-- they’re insecure and socially inept, or they’re unattractive or obese.
I think I sort of have this stereotype lingering in my mind, too. A while back, there was a thread on getting your picture taken and why some people don’t like it. One poster said they like it because they’re pretty and photogenic. I had an automatic “Yeah, right” moment, even though logically I know that it’s a fallacy. After all, out of all the thousands of Dopers, one or two of us have to be good-looking. 
My mother’s a genius at horrible compliments. 3 off the top of my head:
- Ooh, I like your bangs. You look better with bangs. They cover more of your face.
- Most women look pregnant in shirts like that. You only look a little bit pregnant, I like it.
- I wish my hair did the same thing yours does. You know, when it goes all big and like a helmet? Mine’s all flat and boring.
I blog her horrible compliments now, it seems to take the sting out of them. Then there’s my best friend, who is lovely but, on me moaning about my awful fat legs, told me “Your legs aren’t bad at all! They’re sturdy and, I dunno, strong looking. Like tree trunks!”
Me: That’s a compliment??
Her: It sounded better in my head.
My husband (Jake) and I are on our way out of a restaurant, and we’re passing the waiting area. We run into the elderly Chinese lady (ECL) who owns the restaurant where Jake is a regular.
ECL, gesturing towards me: Is this your sister?
Jake: No, this is my fiance.
ECL: Same one that I met before?
Jake: Yes…
ECL: She’s much prettier this time.
Me: 
And you’re still with him?! I’d have dumped his sorry, horny butt (and other parts of his anatomy) pretty darn quick after getting a “compliment” like that!
My friend was introducing himself to his new neighbor that lived on the left of him. This guy was a middle age black man, keep that in mind. On the right of him lived a middle age black woman. He met the woman who lived next to him the previous day.
Friend: Hey, my name is Nick, how are you?
black man: I’m good, how are you, I’m Derek.
friend: say, I met Susan next door yesterday, she’s black, but she still seems nice.
black man: uhhhh…
My five year old at her kindergarden graduation said of my wife,
“My mommy is prettier than a buffalo!”
The wife was at least pleased she used prettier
Once, I admiteed to one of my friends that the reason I always yelled at girls to stop crying was that I’m a sympathetic crier. Now, this is quite incompatible with my tough masculine personality, which is why I rarely admit to it.
Her response? “Oh wow, we always just thought you had no heart!” in a tone commonly used for saying “awwwww” to puppies and small children.
to Rinni, similar experience, I posted a picture on another site, after telling the story of my army infantry unit getting in a bar fight with a unit of Marines. I was told “You look like a man who took on a bunch of Marines…”
One girl’s reaction upon seeing my penis for the first time: “Awww! It’s cute!”.
I found out later she says that every time she sees one for the first time, just to see the guy’s reaction.
I was having an uncomfortable chat with the mother of an old friend; the friend was in prison at the time. She showed me a picture of her son’s little daughter, and said, “she looks so much like Junior!”
I said, “She looks a lot like you, too.” That was the instant I remembered Junior is adopted. :smack: I tried to hide my embarrassment as she tried to hide her pain. :smack:
Come to think of it, when my little sister was kindergarden age (or so), she once complimented a teacher’s (?) new child by saying he looked like a little baby Gorilla. (She really liked Gorillas, you see. That was high praise.)
Come to think of it, when my little sister was kindergarden age (or so), she once complimented a teacher’s (?) new child by saying he looked like a little baby Gorilla. (She really liked Gorillas, you see. That was high praise.)
“You’re gonna look great when you get old”
(told to me when I was 20)
hmm…Asknot - I am also adopted, and anytime that people commented I looked like my (adopted) father, we always got a good chuckle out of it, but it was also a matter of pride that it had come about like that…don’t see why such a comment should cause pain.