Have you ever received an unusually specific compliment?

Not sure if this counts…

But this was around 1999 since I wanted to go to Europe before Y2K destroyed all of us.

We were in the theater area of London and there was a big neon Buddy Holly sign promoting a play about him. Apparently I looked a lot like him and and people thought I was a promotional thing. I had to pee really bad and was trying to get to the Burger King. But I kept getting asked for pictures. I do not think I looked like him.

BTW, I met Graysmith when he was accusing Bob Vaughn of being the Zodiac. He was every bit the nut job Gyllenhaal portrayed.

Didn’t think he was a nut job at all in Zodiac, he seemed more of an obsessive type. Which is funny, because I’m a little obsessive as well

I’ve had specific compliments similar to that throughout my life. The one you mentioned is very very specific, but it wouldn’t throw me for someone to say something like that to me. When I was young people would say I looked like Tatum O’Neil in Paper Moon. I’m compared to many actresses and singers, but I do admit typically people don’t name a specific film. Although, another is Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing, but it’s not so specific, it’s just that most people know her through that movie. There was a movie when I was a teen that an actress looked a lot like me, and off the top of my head I don’t remember her name or the movie name.

A fellow teacher looked at my course prep note cards several years ago and said, “You’re the most organized person I know.”

Sure. Plenty of times. I used to have a problem with compliments. I really didn’t know how to handle them. I didn’t want them to go to my head like I’d seen with so many other people, but I didn’t want to look ungrateful or snobbish either. LOL. It was a real problem. I had been praised by my very busy mother when I got things right, but what was important to me was specific praise from my father—and with seven kids from a guy who was gone every day at work, that was rare.

So, I really hadn’t a lot of experience with praise. But then one day I just learned to say, “Thank you, I really appreciate that, especially from you.” Then blow it off and move on to the next thing. I am very susceptible to egoism, so it is best I don’t dwell on these compliments too much.

LOL. IRL, I actually handle constructive criticism much better than compliments. I have a lot more experience with that.

I’ve been plagued by them my entire life. They are always of a flavor that appears to be flattering, but in the end boil down to backhanded compliments dangling the question “why aren’t you living up to your potential?” It is astonishing just how eagerly well meaning people are to
saddle others with unsought responsibilities. Those proclaiming “you have the talent. You should lead us” never appreciate the translation “You have such a strong back. You should carry a much heavier load”. Why is it that a wary attitude regarding the pitfalls of ambition must be classified as a predeliction for failure?

No, I can’t say that I have. Every compliment that I’ve ever received has usually been pretty specific. The problem is that they’re uncommonly rare.

I wrote an article on the Herman Hill riot of 1979 for the K-State news paper, because I was there, at the riot. What fun that was. It gave me my 15 minutes of fame and secured a position on the newspaper for the following year. One person told me I wrote like Shakespeare. I never could figure out if that was a compliment, or he was saying that Shakespeare wouldn’t write that way about a riot.

You have a cute bat, @CWOTUS!

A co-worker once said, “You have a bladder the size of a cantaloupe! I like that”. We were co-facilitators of a week long training class. Apparently, I didn’t take as many breaks as some of the other facilitators.

Cantaloupe! LOL! Well, I guess it could have been worse! He could have said “watermelon,” and left you wondering what the hell he really meant!

Well dang, now I feel worthless. Have never been told that I have potential or been compared to Shakespeare. It’s not unusual for women I don’t even know to say things to me like, hey good lookin or hi handsome, but I
usually assume they are talking to someone else, and look behind me. And then I get laughed at.

LOL! One time I was out walking. I was in my 20’s. A car full of guys were driving around just being ass hats, yelling silly stuff out the window. As they drove up behind me they yelled, “Hey dream boat!” Then, as the drove in front of me they yelled, “Not you, ship wreck!!” A just cocked my head at them and heard them yell, “Oh shit!!” Then they slammed on the brakes, then sped up, and drove around the block, came up beside me and yelled “YOU ARE NOT A SHIP WRECK!”
One of the few times men have yelled at me that made me grin.

Lol – well hey, at least you got some clarification on that!

Well, I already knew it. The dumbasses!