the "strange" compliment you remember best

One very drunk celebration in Ireland I was called an effing lovely bitch. I was chuffed because I was standing with my tall blond sister in law who normally gets the attention and, although sounds a harsh comment, the way it was said was great!

My second DS was no oil painting when he was born, podgy face, squinty eyes and covered in white pimples. When his dad and 2 year old big brother came to pick us up the nurse said, 'Oh your little toddler is gorgeous isn't he!' She then looked at my new baby and said, 'This one is more like you isn't he?' Hmm good job I wasn't suffering from post natal depression then !!

An old family friend once said "I never saw you as the motherly type, but you don't seem to have done worse than anyone else"!

My aunt used to say that I looked quite pleasant until one day someone said I looked like her. She replied” It’s amazing how she’s blossomed!”

My friend came round to tell me she’d seen a coat in the local shop. “it’s just you” she said “very plain!”

I have always thought that was true kitlong. My mantra is "the fat irons out the wrinkles". A good excuse for not even attempting to loose weight. Who would want to be old , skinny and wrinkly?

When I was a lot younger I was told I "wasn't bad looking for a big girl" and more recently from a different person "you don't look too bad for your age but then fat people don't wrinkle do they"

A lovely but plainspeaking older gentleman said 'you're not bad for a blo*dy woman'

Having just won a battle of wits with one of my 4year old charges when she threatened to drag me outside by my hair (non existent due to chemo) I told her to grab a handful, she looked me up and down, hands on hips, and said 'that's why I love you cos your so silly'

I was at my parents house. I must have been in my late 30's when, completely out of nowhere, my mother told me I was looking very matronly! I didn't know what to say, was it a compliment?
On another visit, my mother said she knew it was me by my footsteps, she said " I've just said to your Dad, here comes your mother, you walk just like your Granny."

I was about 18 and in my first job in the civil service. The commissionaire on the door was a friend of my uncle and sort of knew me. He said to me that I had grown up and was very nice looking, it was just a pity that I hadn't had my teeth straightened.

this thread is great!

At a club one night I was told by a very drunk man that I was lovely and was the model of Shirley Williams, I wasn't too pleased by that. However the following week he was there and and he said that seeing me when the place was lit up he was disappointed because I didn't look like her at all.

I retrained in my forties and at the end of the course I was worried about age discrimination in the workplace. I said to one of my (twenty-something) fellow students "I don't know how I'm going to get a job at my age. I think I'll take my date of birth off my cv." She said "you could lie about your age, Varian, you could take off ten years". I was so flattered because she knew how old I was. I said "ten years? really? is it my new hairstyle?" to which she replied "No, I don't mean you look younger. You don't look youger, but you've got an honest face and people you think you wouldn't lie!"

My mother showing a forty year old me a photo of an eighteen year old me and saying how pretty I was when I was thin.

An ounce of praise is worth a ton of criticism.

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.....!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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"!

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 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.

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?