Was this a backhanded compliment?

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I am back in classes at my university and we were going around introducing ourselves. There is this one girl in my morning class who I find to be incredibly annoying and rude and even a little smart alec. During this last lecture, she kept giving the professor a hard time about this or that. Though I don't know her, I can tell that I already am not a fan of hers. She turns me off!

This one student was talking about herself and mentioning that she just adopted two cats, and this other girl replied with "Awww, I'm allergic."

I want to know, is this a backhanded compliment? If not, what kind of response is this?

What makes you think that was any kind of compliment?

I sense that the girl who is "allergic" loves cats, and is frustrated that she can't have cats as pets because she's "allergic."

No... The other girl is planning to take over the world and seeks to have you obliterated with her secret alien UFO ship firing lazer beams.

Depends on the tone of voice

The speaker has only one definition

The recipient could take the statement in any way

Any interpretation besides the one the speaker intended is a misinterpretation

___________________________

A former swim coach had the nerve to tell me that "you look better as a guy than a girl"

He made it sound like his opinion mattered to me. He made it sound like appearances matter

He acted like he was not trying to be hurtful

He acted so innocent





A clinical psychologist had the nerve to tell me that my failure to comb my hair and iron my pants showed that I did not care about myself

And at that time I was not talking about "care" nor was I discussing appearance



So. The psychologist made it sound like I was selfless

You don't care about yourself means selfless

Doesn't look like a backhanded compliment to me, just a comment.

Not a compliment, I always hear people make these types of comments. Sometimes its best to take things at face value.

Thank you so much everyone.