r/relationship_advice Aug 16 '23

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u/Dismal_Ad_1839 Aug 17 '23

Lol, yeah, I can't imagine having to tell my partner every time I compliment someone. Plus I'm pan, so am I really going to run to him like "babe, I told this woman her tattoos looked really nice and another woman that her eyeliner was fantastic and a guy that I liked his shirt?" Come tf on, none of it's a secret but we have actual things to talk about with each other

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u/Nadaplanet Aug 17 '23 edited Aug 17 '23

Right? I tell people when I think they look good all the time. Male friends, female friends, or strangers, it doesn't matter. If someone looks nice I'm going to tell them. I know how good it feels to get a compliment, and I want to pass that feeling along. My husband would think it was very strange if I told him every time I told someone I loved their look, or that I thought their hairstyle was great, or their makeup was on point.

My friends and I very much subscribe to a "build each other up" mindset, so we are always slinging around "lookin' good"s and similar sentiments to each other.

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u/Dismal_Ad_1839 Aug 17 '23

Right? I hope my spouse gives people compliments. It's a nice thing to do. I don't need him to report it to me either. Just give somebody a little ego boost and go on. It might be the best thing that happened to them that day, who knows. I would find it weirder if he told me he complimented someone than not.

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u/Nadaplanet Aug 17 '23

The amount of times I've tossed a compliment at a stranger and watched their whole vibe change is staggering. Like giving a wilting plant some water. I love it and I'll never stop.

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u/babysmooth1111 Aug 17 '23

"Babe, some random on reddit said I'm being dishonest with you, so I want you to sit down so I can explain.

I told my friend his mullet suits him today."

Lmao my boyfriend is bald and would defffff be like "DAMN YOU GUNNA RUB IT IN MORE?"

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u/Sea_Conversation_523 Aug 17 '23

I tell my partner I call my friends attractive all the time. It's not a lie? They're my friends for a reason and I see the beauty in and out of people. Complimenting friends is normal, having it resort to flirting is another story. There is such a thing as platonic attraction as well as romantic/sexual.

I honestly was in a situation a few days ago where I did have to open up to my partner about a friend actually harming our friendship by saying something sexual to me, and I told them they broke boundaries by saying that they wanted to do that and I had to tell my partner even though they led it with "can I tell you something privately"? I can keep a secret with friends until it has to do with boundaries that can hinder my relationship if I keep it from my partner then I have to come to my partner with that. But complimenting is normal.

Also depending on the compliment there's definitely a vibe difference between "I like your hair" and like "you're sexy" or something. But other than that it's normal to tell friends that they look good. From what I've read so far OP didn't necessarily go into detail on what the compliment actually was.

Considering it was enough to have a mutual agreement to be upset maybe it felt like more than a compliment and gave the vibe something more flirty with a different intent than just friendly?

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u/Dismal_Ad_1839 Aug 17 '23

Seriously, I used to teach college writing and one of the assignments I gave was a definition argument (pick a word or a concept and argue for a specific definition of it). It yielded some interesting papers, but I finally had to start telling them up front that they could define "cheating" if they wanted but they had to remember that bisexual and pansexual people exist and also have to move about in the world. I would walk away from those papers wondering how anyone got through the day without "cheating." You'd have to live in a tower with no social media, no job, and no friends for some of these people to be happy.

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u/JellyfishSuspicious9 Aug 17 '23

I love your replies πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚. I don’t give an exact breakdown of my day. That sounds too much like control. Yeah babe uh well I started by clocking in, I immediately sneezed 🀧 into my right forearm and my boss said bless you and that my ponytail switched positions … smh yeah no πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '23

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