We've all demonstrated our flexibility by putting our foot firmly in the mouth.
Some of us are socially awkward and experience this on the regular. Some have no idea they just offered up a verbal blunder.
Hey, not everyone's Emily Post.
But some compliments really aren't and we can be a little more mindful to choose our words with care.
Here are a handful of compliment styles from around the internet that are deemed, shall we say, not the best form of a compliment you can give:
* The backhanded compliment. As in, "You look great for your age!"
* The fake envious comment: "I wish I had time to catch up on my Netflix queue like you do."
* The over-the-top compliment. This is a compliment that's proportionally out of whack with the situation. Ease up, cowboy.
* The negative compliment as a faux compliment can crop up anywhere. The intent is to undermine the recipient's confidence and give the person who said it a leg up: "You look snobby but you're ok."
* Right church, wrong pew: A compliment that's irrelevant to the situation, as in telling someone who just gave a speech how well dressed they are.