The Most Backhanded Compliments People Have Ever Received

Receiving compliments is generally a pretty great experience. Everyone likes to hear what they're doing well and what others like about them.

But receiving a compliment can quickly ruin someone's day if they realize it's being used as a nice way to insult them.

Cringing, Redditor fullfigurevibes asked:

"What is the most underhanded 'compliment' someone gave you?"

Body Shaming Is Always A Mood Booster

"From a coworker I can’t stand, who likes to pretend she loves everyone: 'Finally, you found an outfit that works for you!'"

- Judgypossum

"Oh, I hate her for you!"

- Imaginary-Pain9598

"Just tell her, 'And it looks like you're still looking for yours!'"

- thrillhouse08

I Can See Clearly Now...

"A colleague of mine once saw me take off my glasses to clean them, and she said, 'Wow, without your glasses, you actually look quite good.'"

"Lol (laughing out loud), my own personal rom-com cliché moment!"

- atthebarricades

"Before putting the glasses back on, I would have said, 'Thanks! You look better, too!'"

- NowListenHereB***hes

Never Ask That Question

"They said, 'How far along are you?'"

"I'm about four months along. The baby is a diseased liver, and we're calling her NAFLD (Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), like 'waffled.'"

- melonsango

"Life lesson everyone should know: Never say a d**n thing about a woman's pregnancy unless she's told you she'd pregnant."

"Some women have bellies. Some women recently lost a pregnancy. And some people have a serious illness. None of them want to hear they look pregnant."

"AND pregnant people like to talk about something other than pregnancy sometimes, so wait for them to bring it up."

- Minimum_Dealer_3303

Well, That Came Out Wrong

"When I was 14, I had cancer. After the second dose of chemo, we had to buzz my hair."

"When one of the hospital teachers came into my room to discuss the possibilities of studying in the hospital, she pat my bald a** head and said, 'Aww, you are such a pretty boy.'"

"I mean, it's a funny story to tell NOW, but it wasn't so good to my lack of self-confidence as a teenage girl, who had problems accepting herself EVEN WITH HAIR."

- carpediemmira

Looks To Match The Stupidity

"He said, 'I honestly thought you were too pretty to be smart.'"

"I honestly still don't know how to respond."

- NotInThatWay

"I think telling them they aren't pretty enough to be that dumb would be a good start."

- mehtorite

As If The License Weren't Brutal Enough!

"A family member complaining to my mom about hating her new driver's license photo because she thought, 'I'm so ugly!'"

"My mom asked to see the new license, looked at it, and said, 'Yep. That's your face.'"

"Savage as f**k, mom. Savage as f**k."

- Relevant_Leather_476

"Yeah, that was a camera, not a miracle worker."

- sumofawitch

What A Projection

"When my stepmom walked in my house for Thanksgiving, the first thing she said was, 'It's nicer than I remember.'"

"It's the first time she stepped foot in my home in 10 years, and not to be an a**, but it's much nicer and cleaner than her house."

"It's probably not the most underhanded compliment, but it's the most recent one I can remember."

- Illustrious-Row224

Not All Bad

"They said, 'You have beautiful brown eyes... like a cow.'"

- mamabb93

"To be fair, cows have gorgeous eyes. I'd personally take that as a compliment."

- Phoenyx_Rose

"Ancient Greeks used to refer to women as 'ox-eyed' and 'cow-eyed' as an epithet of beauty. We still have similar comparisons with 'doe-eyed.' Take it as a positive!"

- Capital_Fisherman407

Incapable Of Seeing Beauty

"I was taking my mother and fiancée to the opening night of the 'Nutcracker' ballet in my town."

"I came out in a backless velvet dress when my mother said, 'Oh my god, I didn’t believe you could be this beautiful!'"

"She has since passed, but I never forgot that she always thought of me as the ugly child. At 71, I still don’t feel pretty, but I no longer let others' opinions of me devastate me."

- Celestial_Retiree

"I feel you. My mom also thinks I’m the ugly sister, although she won’t say it to my face."

"One time at a party after she had a few drinks, I walked up behind her as she was talking to her friend. She asked him, 'When I was in my 20’s, I looked more like [my sister’s name] than [me], right?'"

"She turned a few seconds later and saw me, and went white as a ghost. She started with the whole 'I didn’t mean it like that,' but it still absolutely crushed me."

"My sister is very pretty, but hearing her say that when she thought I wasn’t listening was a huge blow to my self-esteem."

- cynidebrownie

An Unexpected Reality Check

"Friend: 'I really admire you.'"

"Me: 'Thanks. Why?'"

"Friend: 'Your ex totally ruined your life, and you’re not at all bitter.'"

"Me: ..."

"Me: ..."

"Me to myself: ‘Wait… my life is RUINED?'"

- Conscious_Ad4811

Knowing What's Important In Life

"She sneered at me and said, 'Must be nice to not care how you look.'"

"It was Cheeseburger Day in school, and I... I have a healthy love for French fries."

- HeartonSleeve1989

The Quiet Mind

"'You are pretty smart for being so quiet.'"

"Just because I’m not a loudmouth doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. The fool speaks, the wise man listens."

- Ok-Method-1428

"Generally the opposite is true. Tough to learn anything while you are talking. Many loudmouth dumb people wouldn’t know that because they never shut up long enough to learn much."

- Yzerman19_

"I read a quote once that said, 'It is better to be silent and be thought an idiot than to speak and remove all doubt.'"

- EruditeKetchup

Not Helping!

"When I was at that awkward age of puberty when different parts of your body decide their own pace of growing, my younger cousins would tease me and make jokes all the time because of my (then) rather large nose."

"After hearing those jokes, our grandma, while going about her business, casually threw in a reprimand, 'Stop it, you two (cousins)! What would he look like if he had a small nose on such a big head...'"

- j_i_joe

Writing Workshops Be Like:

"'You write colloquially.' I took it as a compliment in my college freshman writing class. I didn’t realize it wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties, lol (laughing out loud)."

- MediumCoffeeTwoShots

"'It's so violent, I thought a man wrote it!' is probably my favorite not-really-a-compliment that I've ever gotten on my writing."

- AtLeastImGenreSavvy

There's Nothing Quite Like The Present

"My deceased grandma was the queen of this. My favorite was, 'You look nice... today.'"

- black_flag_4ever

"My grandpa used to say to me, 'Granddaughter, you get prettier and prettier each time I see you.'"

"And my grandma would chime in, 'Yeah, and his vision is getting worse each time as well.'"

"Haha… I miss them both so much!"

- No_Personality_2Day

"One time when my daughter was in preschool, she said, quite sweetly, 'Mom, you look really pretty today. You probably won't tomorrow.' Lol (laughing out loud)."

- saltypikachu12

It's easy to see why these were the worst "compliments" these Redditors had received. From insults against intelligence and looks to comments about a person's skills, sometimes people can be rather ruthless.