Nobody loves outright flattery, but compliments are those signs of attention that are accepted favorably. What is the difference? Today we will understand this. But the main thing is to consider the meaning of the word “compliment” and its synonyms.
Meaning
There are two points of view regarding the object of study: some are against compliments, others are for. The first camp includes truly ambitious people, from whom you can’t get a good word, because they believe courtesy is from the evil one. But it is necessary to speak the truth, only the truth and nothing but the truth. This has its own reasons, because politeness is based on observance of public rituals, which, perhaps, few people want to perform, but have to do so by tradition.
The second camp believes that there is nothing special about compliments, and politeness is worthless. Therefore, they tell everyone courtesy as much as possible. Of course, in a social sense, the latter act more farsightedly than the former, because a compliment is a wonderful link linking social interaction. But, before we continue, let's turn to the explanatory dictionary. He will tell us the following regarding the object of study: "Kind, pleasant words, flattering feedback."
The most offensive is that such a definition does not give anything in understanding the phenomenon. Compliments - is it all the same flattery or not? Answering this question, one cannot but touch upon the topics of semantic analogues.
Synonyms
Often when analyzing the meaning of a word, questions arise about its true content. To reveal this secret, we need to consider the analogues of the object of study, they will definitely help us:
As you can see, only two nouns can replace and partially answer the question of what a compliment is. We still have to try to put forward a hypothesis ourselves, which reveals the essence of the concept. We begin, of course, with the issue that worries many.
How does a compliment differ from flattery?
If you look into the same explanatory dictionary, we will find out: flattery is "hypocrisy, a compliment." Recall the textbook fable about the Fox and the Raven. And formulate this: flattery distorts reality. The smoothie tells the subject the effects of courtesies that have nothing to do with reality. There is gross flattery or subtle, all the same the principle of action is the same for her.
And a compliment is a praise that has a real foundation. When we tell a person that he did his job well, we thus compliment him. Naturally, the kit involves some embellishment of reality, but still the praise does not go beyond the reasonable.
And it also seems that much in the separation of flattery and compliments as phenomena depends on the social status of the person to whom the compliment is given. If, for example, the object of influence is the boss, and the source of amenities is the subordinate, then you will inevitably suspect dishonest play and a desire to flatter the higher ones. In this case, it is difficult to prove something. You need to think about whether the leader has those qualities that the employee sings about so sweetly or not, if there are two options, then this is flattery, of course. To avoid ambiguous situations, it is better not to publicly praise the boss. No matter how you look, it comes out weird.
What does the word compliment teach us?
Quite often they talk about the moral of the story, story, novel or fable, but after all one word can teach something, if we well understand its meaning. For example, a compliment is a praise that still needs to be earned. And it is precisely in this that such courtesy differs from flattery. Yes, sometimes people make compliments out of politeness or to support a person, but even here such a phenomenon is difficult to condemn, because it lacks a selfish, selfish motive.
Good words must be brought to the addressee so that he is pleased. There must be more good in the world. Of course, ideally, you need to do good, but sometimes a positive review means a lot, especially when pronounced or written on time.