Con-plimentary
I make no bones about the fact that I’m pretty geeky, so I’m generally aware of my deficiencies in most of the social graces. No idea why, but yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me that I don’t know how to take a compliment. For example, somebody says to me “hey man, that’s a nice jacket”, my response would be along the lines of “um, yeah… thanks”. It’s a real conversation killer, and could be one of the reasons why I find the experience of talking or socialising with other people such an awkward experience.
Should I have returned the compliment – “thanks mate, you’re looking pretty sharp yourself”, or downplayed it with “nah, I just threw it on this morning ‘coz it was cold”?
Is it possible to learn this in a systematic fashion to compensate for not having acquired it by osmosis during the last 32 years?
I think ‘um yeah thanks’ is the usual response to that sort of compliment. I would normally follow it up with ‘I got it on SALE for HALF PRICE! Isn’t that great!!?’ which is TRULY geeky, but not in a smart way.
I reckon most ppl learn social mores from books and media and observation, so to become a witty banterer, read Jane Austen and watch movies with clever dialogue. I’d have to attribute at least 80% of my social normalcy (if indeed I am) to TV shows.