Sometimes, we wonder what goes through people's minds before they open their mouths.
Like, we get it, you tried to be nice. But it didn't quite work and now this is weird. You have made it weird.
So what exactly constitutes a weird compliment?
u/not-your-teacher asked:
What is the weirdest compliment that you have ever gotten?
Here were some of the answers.
German Journey
GiphyI have a handlebar mustache which routinely draws compliments, but this was a knock-out.
Some old farmer dude with two teeth, wearing ripped up overalls and smelling of bacon walked up to me in a Dollar General in rural Arkansas and said:
"Man, you could strap them things on a bike and ride it all the way to Germany!"
Zaddy Issuez
The hot girl in my class was sitting behind me and was like, "Mmm you smell like my dad..." in a very sultry voice.
That takes daddy issues to a whole new level 😳
The Star Of My Face
"I've seen some 8/10 noses, and a couple 9/10 noses, but I've never seen a solid 10/10 nose before! You have the nicest nose I've ever seen!"
-very drunk/high guy who then gave me a fiver cause my nose was a "supermodel"
Somehow Made This About Me
"You. Are. Beautiful. I'm a New York cosmetologist, so I know beauty when I see it and you are beautiful." This was said to me when I was 18 by a woman who came into the store where I worked.
What makes it weird is that I ran into this woman again at the mall months later and she said the same thing, pretty much word for word, so I guess she was consistent, at least.
The Length Of Lung
Went to the doctor for a lung x-ray, he told me I have the "longest lungs" he'd ever seen. I'm 6'5" so maybe not too surprising, but still I didn't know how to respond.
I wouldn't worry about it. Just take a long deep breath and relax.
Great Acting
Once participated in a Shakespeare competition in high school. Some of the attractive theater club girls were in the room with me and saw me perform. I didn't think I did all that well, but one of the girls pulled me to the side afterwards and said, "Your acting made me horny." To this day it probably stands as one of the weirdest compliments (and probably one of the best) I've ever received.
High Fashion
"Zis is fashion," when complimenting my hair. My hair was in weird in in-between state because I had gotten my hair chemically straightened and my curly hair had begun to grow back. So it was half and half and I looked almost like I could be the lead singer of The Cure. I accompanied my friend to a really expensive hair salon in Beverly Hills because she had a gift certificate for a haircut and the owner was this older French dude. He saw me and LOVED my hair. He kept saying "Zis is fashion. ZIS is fashion. I must take picture of you.'' So I let him.
But I Date Him Anyway
My boyfriend is very socially (and in a way mentally) challenged due to a few things. A reoccurring theme is his bad habit to state things as matter of fact just as they come to mind, and compliment people badly. About a month into meeting him/talking I heard.. (not word for word on all of them)
"You're very jiggly." (He was looking at my arms while I was umbrella fighting with a mutual friend)
"Your hair smells like funny dots!! It's nice."
"Woah! You DO have big feet!"
"Your eyes are my favorite kind of brown! I've never seen it like that before."
"You're not skinny skinny, and that's okay. You're cute."
"Your dark circles make you look sick— but that's not a bad thing!!! Just don't be sick."
"You have very chubby cheeks. (He squints and nods) Yeah.. When you smile your face goes round."
He's a treasure.
Hi, Kevin
A stoner guy named Kevin that used to work at a pizza place I worked at: "Yo. I'd high-five you even if you had sauce on your hands, man, 'cuz you're cool and not a pirate like Norm." Norm was the guy who usually ran our fryer. He did sort of look like a slightly larger, short-haired Jack Sparrow.
Kevin also drew a comic on the wall (in pencil) of me running over Hitler in my "pizza mobile" and then giving FDR a pizza, which could have been interpreted as a compliment on my patriotism and driving skills.
Hello, Dolly
GiphyAt my old job, my first manager was an older woman. (She retired after my first year or so there). I forget what I was talking about, but I called myself a nerd. Because, well, I am. Proud of it. She got this horrified look on her face and tried to insist I wasn't a nerd and I shouldn't talk about myself that way. She was old enough to where she had never heard "nerd" be used as anything but a fairly severe insult.
I wasn't really sure what to make of that, I just told her it was fine and nerd wasn't a bad thing to be anymore. I'll always remember that though. Thanks Dolly! I guess...
Hair Scare
Once i went into a McDonalds by myself to get a burger meal, and this obviously drunk guy holding a coffee comes up to me and says "I like your hair" and i say "Thank You" Then he says "No thank you for your amazing hair." I ordered and got out of there as fast as i could. (Note: I was Only 12 years old)
Get Your Filthy Paws Off My Silky Locks
Highschool:
Every student had to choose a language class (Spanish, French, German) so for these classes, you weren't with your usual classmates, for me, the antisocial quiet guy, that basically meant friendships with those people did not go further than learning peoples names.
So, I'm sitting at a table that hosts four people, a square table with two pairs of chairs sitting opposite each other. Suddenly I feel something patting my head, I look up from my book to see this guy I barely know, standing up from his chair, leaning across the table to pat me on the head, then sit back down, look me straight in the eyes and say "you have really soft hair", I really have no idea how to react, so I just say "thanks" and go back to reading, now self-conscious about whether my table-mates are looking at my hair.
On The Radio, Whoah
Someone told me once out of nowhere that I had a really cool boisterous voice that belonged in radio. Guy I'd never met before either. Never would again.
It was a weird compliment, honestly, but one of the greatest ones I've ever received because I'd been insulted about my voice for years and felt a little embarrassed about it.
Just Left Of A Unibrow
GiphyThis friend I had walked up to me, started at my face then went "Oh my gosh I LOVE your eyebrows!!!" After that she would always talk about them and ask others if they agreed with her about it. I don't even do anything with my eyebrows though and they're actually quite ugly. I have a scar going through the middle of one and it makes some of the hair really messy, looking close it's almost a unibrow and they're completely different shapes.
I'm Better Than THAT French Teacher
This was a while ago but,
So I when I was in guiding, it was maybe around Christmas. We were writing cards to each other, having everyone say a nice thing about the person the cards. Everyone had to sign and say something nice on Everyone's card, even your own.
On mine, when saw it, someone wrote "I think your hair is NOT a wig, unlike my French teacher."
I felt happy, until they covered that message with stickers.
I Would Literally Murder For Your Hair
Im a long dark haired metalhead guy, and not at all to brag, but i have very nice hair. Its my most complimented feature and i have heard a lot of complements about it, a lot of wierd things and a lot of repeated things. One fairly weird one i hear a lot is "man, you have nicer hair than any of the girls around here." Another one is "you know a lot of people would kill for hair like that." All this also frequently goes with complete strangers asking to feel it (and if youre a girl and you ask me and i smile real big before saying yes know that i think you are pretty and you are making my week) and describing it like its a horse or sexy woman like "majestic" or "voluptuous" or "magnificent"
All that said, the weirdest one came from a very friendly crack whore. Several months I was doing a college job at a restaurant in my home town, and this particular time it was on the ghetto side of town. For the first time in my life i was fairly skinny and i still had a short beard. She saw me and she said in a high pitched voice "WOO-ooh! You look like Jesus but pretty!"
She kept going with things like that and i laughed and played along uncomfortably until my boss distracted her and saved me. Thank you for the sentiment, lady, I do appreciate it.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.