Welcome to English in a Minute.

A compliment is something nice you to say to someone. But what is a backhanded compliment?

Backhanded Compliment

A: Jonathan, Caty just told me my script was good…surprisingly good.

B: That, my friend, is a backhanded compliment.

A: Yes! She was surprised it was good. So, she was expecting it to be bad.

B: Oh, let it go, Anna. Backhanded or not, it’s still a compliment.

A backhanded compliment seems like a nice comment. But it’s not. It’s an insult made to look like a compliment. As you saw with Anna, backhanded compliments can upset people.

And that’s English in a Minute!Originally published at - [ Ссылка ]

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