They just taught my kids what backhanded compliments mean… and now I can’t unsee them 😅

My daughter came home talking about how people sometimes say nice things that don’t really sound nice.

The example she gave:

“You speak so well, I’m so impressed. Oh, I see you were born in the U.S.” 😩

So, a backhanded compliment is a remark that sounds like praise but actually carries a hidden insult or judgment.

I’ve always known what it means, just never paid much attention to it.

Then it happened to me.

I recently got my hair done, and everyone at work seemed to love it.
One colleague said,

“Oh my gosh, you look so good. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

I smiled and said thank you.

The next day, she added,

“You should take a picture of this hair and replace the one on your ID card. This is way better.”

For a second, I paused, confused.

Was that a compliment?
Or was that a little backhanded too?

Maybe some compliments just come wrapped in confusion?