the "strange" compliment you remember best

........missed out 'I realised'..... in my last sentence!!!! Got a bit misty eyed......

Not backhanded, but the one I really treasure from my Dh was one Christmas, when we had sundry guests, including his brother who was going through very difficult times with his ex, who'd never really made their house comfortable or nice, and I don't mean in a stylish way.
Dh said, 'Thank you for making a nice home,' and I still think it's one of the nicest things he's ever said to me.

My husband was looking through old photos and said "you were good looking then" !!! I didn't answer so he repeated it.

My friend was sitting in front of the mirror taking off her make up, whilst her husband lay in bed, watching.
He said "Oh I do love you, you know." Then added: "And when I win the lottery, don't worry, because I'm going to pay for you to have a face lift".

On holiday staying with my SIL, she came out with 2 classics. DH and I had been out for the day and I’d bought some earrings. When I showed them to her, she said “oh I can’t wear anything like that, they make me feel tarty”. Then she went and had her hair done so I told her how nice it looked. She said “yes but I wanted it to look tatty like yours”.

My mama a few years before she died, looked at a photo of two small children, obviously the same age. IT was of my "almost twin" first cousin and me. She peered at it and said "the baby on the left is obviously Robert, but who on earth is that really ugly baby on the right?" I didn't know whether to laugh or cry...

Showed a work colleague my new diamond band and she said “oh yes LITTLE Diamonds” wanted to punch her face.

My mother was very glamorous in her younger days, and people were always telling her how lovely she was. They would look down at me and say, "You don't look like your mum, do you?"

At a wedding years ago A ‘friend’ wearing a very expensive dress called my name across the church, saying ‘I see you’ve had the sewing machine out again ——‘. Yes I had but never wore that outfit again.

The compliment I find disturbing is when you run into someone you haven’t seen for years and they say ‘you haven’t changed a bit’, my usual retort is ‘what so I’ve been old grey and wrinkled since I was a teenager?

When I had cancer in my early 60s the consultant said, ‘you’ve got the breasts of a 20 year old. When I told my DD she said ‘so there’s some poor 20 year old going round with the saggy breasts of an old woman’.

A few times I've been told I'm fabulous. Usually when I'm wearing my multicolour hair, as I was this morning for our choir concert.

A female colleague once asked me if I'd lost weight. I was quite pleased but said that I didn't think I had because I hadn't been dieting as such. She said she thought I must have because........my bum didn't take up as much of the corridor when I was walking down it.

I have two, one good, one bad.
When I was in my late 30s I went to a family funeral and met my BIL who I hadn't seen since for around 15 years. His first words were "don't you look old". I was not impressed. My DH accosted his brother who said he meant I used to look like a little girl and now I looked adult - I did always look very young for my age (no longer).
Some years ago at work, I had a chat with a pregnant colleague who was feeling unwell. I suggested she needed to look after herself and rest more for her baby's sake. She said she had to work. A couple of days later she told me she was taking time off, I was right, and how did I get to be so wise. That was a lovely compliment.

I was about 26 and mini skirts were on the way out, but it was a very hot summer day, and I had one on. I was walking downstairs in a public library when a man patted my bottom and said, "Nice arse, hen!"

Even though I appreciated the compliment, I never felt comfortable in a mini skirt again.

When I was in my late teens my brother's friend whom I hadn't met before said 'I thought you were much younger until you opened your mouth'! Thankfully he wasn't referring to my teeth, but to the adult conversation!!!

As I walked down the corridor at school after having a special hairdo, a pupil came up to me and said “My mum’s had her hair done like that. I told her I didn’t like it”.
Left me gobsmacked - how do you reply to that?

My grandad, whom I loved, told me that although I wasn't pretty, like my two sisters, I was attractive and that lasts longer! Not surprisingly, I was quite devastated having this state of affairs confirmed. What little girl doesn't want to be pretty? I've no idea what prompted him to tell me this. I was probably about 9 or 10 at the time, maybe a little older.

Fortunately, this revelation never held me back. Boys and men did find me attractive and in some cases had to be fended off! It really did hurt at the time, though.

When I worked in a geriatric unit (don't know what they're called now!) I went to see a lovely patient who was well away with the fairies, to use the technical term. She turned out to be just waking up from a nap, and as her eyes opened and she gazed up at me, she said "My, what lovely dentures!" It still cheers me up (and I still have my own teeth).

My mother said when I was 8 months pregnant: "You look like the side of a bus". Just the thing to boost my morale!
A friend once said: "Would you like these earrings? I bought them because I didn't want to lose my real diamonds, but my husband doesn't want me to wear fakes"!

Granddaughter, on looking at my wedding photos- Oh Grandma you used to be pretty once!

My husband (sadly now my ex-husband) once told me that I drove like a man! He really did mean it as a compliment and I took it as such.

I was about to go out on my own, just to the shops, a couple of weeks after giving birth to my first DC.
I had put on "real clothes" instead of super casual house clothes and my mum arrived to babysit.
"Oh", she said, "you've still got your little pot belly,"
I felt great

Another DH special. On holiday in Italy and all dressed up for a night out, I was chuffed when a young man passing by made that appreciative clicking noise they do. Mentioned it to DH and he said it was probably his shoes squeaking.

This was not a 'strange' complement, but one totally unexpected.
9 months pregnant with baby2, we were going to DHs Christmas do. ( sounds poetic)
I was seriously like a baby elephant and had hired a Regency style dress. A young man who worked with DH came to pick us up. When he saw big lumbering me he said ' You look beautiful" It was so unexpected and genuine I have never forgotten it. DS was born 10 days later weighing 9 lb 8 oz.

I had one today - I think- that may keep me awake tonight! I bumped into a man I know, and have always thought of as a good friend and a bit of a laugh. I saw him only a few days ago as well, and was saddened to hear is wife is ill at present. I saw him again today, and we had a brief chat again. He said, " do you know, we met ( in a work capacity) in 1982. We were mulling over where the years went, then he said that he must get on. As he walked away he said ( I think I heard right) ..."and I have loved you since 1982"..... and off he went. Wot? I wasn't sure I had heard right, and didn't want to say "What did you say?" and open a can of worms! I am in a very happy relationship, and I am hoping I didn't hear quite right( nice tho it is to be loved), as I think I may feel awkward the next time we meet. Not the backhanded compliment a lot of you have had, but it's more OMG.....!

An ounce of praise is worth a ton of criticism.