back handed compliment

abc   Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:45 pm GMT
"Why did you have to add that? That is what I call a back handed
compliment."
what does that phrase mean?
Guest   Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:53 pm GMT
It means you are a Nazi, you Nazi bastard.
Uriel   Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:13 pm GMT
A back-handed compliment is something that sounds like a compliment, but is really a subtle criticism or insult. (To back-hand someone is to slap them across the face with the back of the hand.)

Example: "You look really nice, for once."

"You look really nice" is usually a compliment, but the "for once" implies that this is a rare occasion; usually you look like shit.
Guest   Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:56 pm GMT
Uriel, that is treason, why are you helping a Nazi, don't you know abc is a Nazi. He pays homage to Adolf Hitler every d-day, and he has a swastika tattoo on his left arm and chest.
Uriel   Thu Mar 09, 2006 7:53 pm GMT
You will sometimes also see the term left-handed compliment, coming from the idea that anything "left-handed" is bad (from the Latin, sinister; doesn't literally apply to people who have their left hand as their dominant hand).
Guest   Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:05 pm GMT
Great!!, so this site is also a site where Nazis can learn English, or maybe Uriel is also a Nazi, now we have two Nazis, Uriel and abc.

Uriel (aka Ueinzreich the Nazi).
abc   Thu Mar 09, 2006 8:26 pm GMT
Thanx Uriel. Great explanation
Guest, thanx for your explanation too. but i think what was meant by that sentence was what Uriel explained