Like Zette said, depends on the mood…also depends on who is telling me this. I had a friend who told me I had a good rack, but I didn’t slap him or anything, since he said it matter of factly and didn’t say more or singled it out.
I once went to school with a nice white shirt with cleavage. Mind you, I knew the shirt showed cleavage, but it was not until my last class that a (female) friend told me the shirt showed them…a lot more. That was enough to awake my breast complex. As I was leaving the school, I walked between two (male) friends. One of them had this strange idea of complimenting me, saying “Hey KG, you look good today, and that shirt makes your boobs look bigger”…So I started slapping him even before he finished. See, he was a friend, he was not supposed to be leering at me! He tried to defend his viewpoint of it being a compliment, while the other guy said: " Yea, you were wrong saying that to KG…I mean, I notice the same thing but didn’t say it."
The second guy was smart enough to leave my side as soon as he said that.
I wouldn’t mind that kind of seedy compliment from someone I know. Coming from a complete stranger, however, it’s the sort of comment that would undoubtedly land that stranger a snarl. And not the good kind.
I’m with booklover on this one. I know guys stare at boobs all the time; I don’t need them coming up and saying it to my face. I say keep your opinions of women’s boobs to yourself. As for complimenting a woman who looks nice, why not just say “You look nice”? Why single out her boobs?
i think in all honesty, unless it was someone i was very, very close to or dating, i’d be offended. trust me, the first thing i want you to comment on is maybe my eyes, or my hair, or my smile. not my chest. that’s later.
The lady in question is far more likely to appreciate the compliment (and far less likely to take offense!) if it is phrased as “Nice top” or even “You look very sexy in that outfit” rather than “Great rack!” This is because the first two are paying respect not merely to her body, but also to her taste in clothing and the effort she put into dressing.
However, I do not think that a direct compliment about a woman’s breasts would be inappropriate in the context of a discussion about breasts, provided it was not accompanied by any unsettling leering, drooling, or growling.
Is it ok for girlies to comment on other girlies boobage?
I mean, for example, my girlie friends and I often compliment each other on the normal stuff… “nice hair/top/shoes - oh, you’ve lost weight, blahdy blahdy blah…” and boobs are quite high on our conversation list, (cos we’ve all got 'em, and they’re fun! ;))
So if we assume Twisty was making his comment in a similar way, eg - inocuous chitchat-bollox-pub conversation, why is it worse because he’s a bloke?
And would it be offensive if a girlie you knew was a lesbian made the comment?
Personally, I don’t get offended, but if I don’t know you, and you’re not a friend of a friend, you’re likely to get your teeth introduced to some chaos for having the audacity to think I might lower myself to talk to you in the first place.
I would never say “nice rack” to anyone (unless I was sleeping with her, and in those situations I tend to find different words than rack). I would be surprised to hear someone I knew say that to anyone, not because it’s offensive, but because it’s a fairly, um, silly thing to say. You’re risking offending someone or getting sued for sexual harrassment (I live in California, after all), and for what? To tell a girl something she probably doesn’t want to hear.
That said, I have had precisely that compliment, in those words, paid to me twice. Once it was outrageously offensive, and once it was hysterically funny (falling-off-the-chair-laughing, oh-god-I-can’t-breathe type funny) and totally appropriate. What made the difference?
I knew the second guy pretty well. Didn’t know the first.
The context was perfect for the second guy. Not for the first.
The second guy was just naturally funny and classy. Though I don’t know the first guy, I’d wager that he’s not funny and wouldn’t know class if it bit him on the…um…nose.
So I guess if you’re the type of guy that can get away with it, go right ahead. Otherwise, don’t. If you aren’t sure, then don’t.
(And for god’s sake don’t say anything like “It’s rather nipple-y out this evening.” or “Wow, you have great boobs. They look just like one of those, um, squeezy things.” or [cheesy accent] “Your breasts, they are like magnets. I cannot tear my eyes away. Caramba! Now my hands, they are being drawn in!” or “You must have awful back problems, carrying around a load like that on your chest. Want a backrub?” or [in gym] “Need any help with your CHEST exercises? No, you must already be pretty good at those.” Yes, these are actual comments I’ve heard, and I can’t say I relished any them.)
I think it would make me uncomfortable. I wouldn’t necessarily act like it, or resond as such, but it would defiitely make me feel very scrutinized, and maybe objectified.
Why it’s different than complimenting my hair, I’m not sure. But it is.
Normally I’d be totally tweaked out if a stranger or casual acquantance alluded to my breasts. However, I would have to make an exception if the compliment was given in verse. Spouting off poetry can help you get away with a lot.
If someone I know said “Hey! Nice rack!” I’d laugh and say thanks. If a total stranger said it, I’d probably still laugh and say thanks.
I do have a nice rack, and sometimes I do wear shirts that accentuate my breasts or show cleavage. It’s just not a big deal to me – no different than saying I have pretty eyes or nice hair.
I think it all comes down to the sexual attractiveness of the person including his delivery style. Its the biological imperative of most women to be selective of those with whom she might engage in sexually from innuendo, to flirtation and on to full blown sex. No woman would want the attention of an undesirable man from the gitgo.
Men are generally different. Any woman commenting on the size of the bulge in his pants would hardly result in the man feeling the need to take offence.
By the way, if you composed the OP poem TwistofFate, my hat goes off to you.
If I know a woman and am comfortable enough with her to know she wouldn’t take offense, and circumstances were right (such as at a DopeFest with lovely, curvaceous DoperWimminz), I might make breastage comments.
Otherwise, I would make a more oblique reference, in a complimentary way, to her overall appearance, figure-wise.
Such as, “That’s a pretty outfit. It compliments your figure.”
grienspace, don’t agree on this one. Women making insensitive comments about bulges isn’t any more or less offensive than similar comments by men about women.
As has been noted, there are times this kind of comment is welcome, and (many) others it isn’t. To paraphrase Zette: “Do you feel lucky?”
If a woman said that to me, she better have a pretty good sense of humor. Also, a nice rack might make a difference…
[hijack]
I swear this is a true story.
Since neither my wife nor I drive, a female friend occasionally helps us out by taking me grocery shopping. When we get to the store, she always asks if there’s anything on my list she can “search and destroy” (her phrase for run around the store and find things on my list which don’t require decision making). One time the store was having a “buy one, get one free” sale on gallons of milk, and I asked her to get two gallons of milk. A few minutes later I look up and she’s walking toward me with two one-gallon milk jugs tucked into the crooks of her elbows. The obvious comment flashed into my mind and hovered briefly on my lips. My attempts at self-restraint must have been apparent; when she got to the cart she grinned and said in a mock-threatening tone, “Don’t say it.”
Then the next time we went shopping, there was a sale on cantalopes…
Well, you can imagine what happened.
[/hijack]
