Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Compliment or Insult

I was getting ready to write something to a blog friend, but stopped myself. Would it be taken as a compliment or an insult? My instincts have been a little off lately--and my attempts at humor have missed the mark badly a time or two. I was going to write:

"You are one in a billion!!!" (How special)

It sounds nice. But the person could think I meant:

"I know seven people just like you." (How boring)


LOL, okay, that IS a stretch. Who would take that as an insult? But you never know.

A former work spouse once mentioned that my late-20-something co-worker looked very young. I passed along the compliment...and got my head ripped off. It turned out the girl's boyfriend had dumped her the day before--he said she was too childish for him. The last thing she wanted to hear was that she looked very young. The next day I got an urge to say, "Gee, you're looking kind of old today." But I resisted the urge. A little harmless teasing can be really fun, but that wasn't the right time.

So I waited and said it to her two years later. =)
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25 comments:

  1. Dana YoshimizuOctober 25, 2011 at 1:00 PM

    haha, I'll begin typing comments and sometimes think "wait.. will they get my humor?" and usually end up deleting them. But I never do that with you. LOL I just type and type and type away & hope that you get the humor, or point of all my ramblings. :)


    <3,
    Dana

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  2. Stephanie COctober 25, 2011 at 1:35 PM

    haha, compliments can always be taken the wrong way sometimes, but that "one in a billion" comment is definitely a compliment!

    I love your posts, they always make me laugh.

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  3. Thanh ThaoOctober 25, 2011 at 1:40 PM

    Hey, I know that too, sometimes I start writing a comment and then just delete it and write it again cause I usually reread before posting and then I realize what crap I wrote, lol.

    My sense of humour is really weird, so don't worry when you comment at my blog, I usually can laugh about everything and about myself XDD

    But don't tell mme I look young, I get to hear that all of the time, I'm so sick of it, hihihi ;))))) Have a nice day!

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  4. krissy ♥October 25, 2011 at 7:54 PM

    Heehee I fully sympathize :) Good thing I am always able to come up with another response to make it less awkward :D

    PS: I get the "you look young!" comments a lot but I don't mind. I know I do, and I know I am still childish :D

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  5. UnknownOctober 25, 2011 at 8:46 PM

    Looking young is good! I don't know why anyone would rip your head off for saying that. I mean I get that her bf broke up with her for being childish but you could look 80 and still act childish right? Anyway, hope you're well... and don't worry... saying you're one in a billion is a compliment... I think.

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  6. Bravoe RunwayOctober 25, 2011 at 9:28 PM

    Looking young is not such a bad thing... Your comments always crack me up and it sounds like your dad is quite the character! I can see where you got it from :)

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  7. LeahOctober 25, 2011 at 9:32 PM

    Haha! I actually love your comments on my blog. Always makes me laugh. :) By the way, funny story! :P

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  8. MizzJOctober 25, 2011 at 11:28 PM

    haha how did she take getting called old 2 years later?

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  9. Armored LadyOctober 26, 2011 at 1:00 AM

    Your'e right at teasing at the right time...
    she could get the other way..makes her more depressed...hahahahahaha

    www.planetofclai.blogspot.com

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  10. Dana YoshimizuOctober 26, 2011 at 2:21 AM

    -___- *blahhhhh*

    I hate it when I have a SUPER long comment & then I lose it because I accidentally click something and go to another page :/

    Anyways, as I was saying before I had to retype all this: (lol)
    Part of my day was sort of crappy Monday, so I used all that angry energy in me to clean my apartment. I figured that was better than attempting to do homework unproductively because I was too angry to work well.

    And YUCK to having to cut your wife's hair out of her brush. Why doesn't she just pull the hairs out as she goes. Like every day after she's done using it, clean it out rather than letting it all build up? OR is it to make something awesome like this: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=sweater+made+of+human+hair&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1333&bih=665&tbm=isch&tbnid=ZMnjhzzhK1SR-M:&imgrefurl=http://make-handmade.com/2011/07/05/necklaces-made-from-human-hair/&docid=egwyUFXiFgMKvM&imgurl=http://make-handmade.com/wp-content/plugins/rss-poster/cache/df7da_hair%25252520necklace%252525202.jpg&w=550&h=388&ei=_dCnTq7CM6eOiAKFytXGDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=264&sig=111500508341206704150&page=2&tbnh=136&tbnw=182&start=18&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:18&tx=151&ty=16? ahaha jk!


    <3,
    Dana

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  11. Dana YoshimizuOctober 26, 2011 at 2:23 AM

    Oh yea, I almost forgot!!

    I gave you a blogger award ;)

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  12. S.October 26, 2011 at 4:37 AM

    hahaha I often stop for a while to give a second thought on what I'm writing.:D
    Few days back a twitter blog mate was asking if her blog is boring.I told that doodles or something new would be a treat and she replied back you almost insulted me there. :P

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  13. WennyOctober 26, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    You're such a joker! Anyway you can't take care of everyone's feelings coz you can't read minds right? As long as you didn't mean anything bad, conscience is free.

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  14. sugar sugarOctober 26, 2011 at 2:27 PM

    i feel where you are coming from rick. i always tease people and enjoy teasing them but sometimes they give me the oddest stares LOL! xD don't worry though, i think people who have been with you and know you won't mind at all. but it's best to be careful with those you are not so close with yet. :)

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  15. Danielle's BlogOctober 26, 2011 at 9:21 PM

    haha that's pretty funny. It's definitely hard to please a girl. Compliments and insults can all sound the same sometimes.

    www.mrschong.com

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  16. JoOctober 27, 2011 at 1:33 AM

    I have a couple of that too but not much from face to face interaction. I guess for face to face interaction, people could read my tone and body language to know when I'm joking. I get that a lot in typed text like sms or text over the internet.

    Compliments and insults is a fine line actually.
    I hope I haven't had my fair share of you misunderstanding my teasing till now.

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  17. kristieinbcOctober 27, 2011 at 6:51 AM

    I am like you Rick. I have to be careful about the jokes I make with people. I admit, my sense of humour is a bit different than most people's, and it has gotten me in trouble on more than one occasion. I have also found that once someone misinterprets what I meant they get their back up and it is hard to explain myself out of the situation.

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  18. Bijin BlairOctober 27, 2011 at 7:22 AM

    Nooooo! Was she insulted? hahaha

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  19. sssdawnaOctober 28, 2011 at 8:02 AM

    It's nice that you think of others' feelings before you speak but...LOL!

    2 years is a long time to let a joke marinate, I bet it was extra funny ; )

    Rick, I still love your blog and I hope you visit my new ones since Tumblr didn't work haha

    Galaxia's New Blogs

    Sincerely,
    Galaxia
    aka
    sssDawna from BeautyandaBuget

    ReplyDelete
  20. Nashe^October 28, 2011 at 8:46 AM

    Hahhaa I guess timing is important!!

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  21. Nuke GirlOctober 28, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    I'm totally sympathetic here, I say the wrong thing all the time! Or, everyone else thinks my harmless little poke at humor is funny EXCEPT the person I said it to, and then the "not okay" factor is multiplied ten-fold. Oops. :)

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  22. UnknownOctober 28, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    Pumpkins from Safeway! Cheater! LOL! Well, if it makes you feel any better... we haven't even carved ours yet. I bet you have done at least that right?

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  23. Dirt On The RocksOctober 28, 2011 at 3:21 PM

    Oh gosh. it's not your fault that the girl had broken up with her bf. Gee I get it all the time. Actually I get it so often people start carding me. Then when I'm with my boyfriend I get the whole why is that guy holding hands with that 16 year old girl look. LOL

    http://dirtontherocks.com

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  24. Shop N' ChompOctober 28, 2011 at 10:36 PM

    2 years? That is some patience! Compliments (especially in email) can sometimes go either way but that line should be a-ok I think.

    (Why hadn't I thought of Mucinex? I see that ugly mascot on TV all the time...lol)

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  25. crickette insertoOctober 31, 2011 at 1:18 AM

    I try to be very careful when I say stuff to people. Sometimes, I realize I'm too careful because other people do not care at all. You can say I've received a collection of bad words... and sometimes I wish that these people knew how to say it better.

    Still, I'd rather be the one that gets hurt than to be the one that hurts people.

    ReplyDelete

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