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Original poster

Do you say left handed or back handed

62 replies

LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 11:58

for compliments that are really insults?

YABU - back handed compliment
YANBU - left handed

Left handed sounds right to me.

OP posts:
QuietlyWonderful · 25/07/2024 12:24

BackOfAsda · 25/07/2024 12:03

Back handed

Left handed means cack handed (both are outdated)

I am left handed and definitely not past my 'best before date.
Cack handed in my family has always meant clumsy and we still say this.

TheSquareMile · 25/07/2024 12:23

I think that it might depend on the region of the world.

I think that, in the UK, 'back-handed compliment" is the most likely one people would use.

Left-handed might be more common in the US and perhaps Australia.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-04-sp-1265-story.html

WhatNoRaisins · 25/07/2024 12:22

I thought cack handedness was more to do with being physically clumsy.

FictionalCharacter · 25/07/2024 12:21

Talipesmum · 25/07/2024 12:11

I really don’t think it was. Try asking how many people here have ever heard of the phrase “left handed compliment”.

Show quote history

I agree. This is the first time I’ve heard of it.

tigger1001 · 25/07/2024 12:18

Back handed compliment here. Never heard it been referred to as a left handed compliment

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:18

McSpoot · 25/07/2024 12:15

Apparently, they are both "right" but back-handed (or backhanded or back handed) is much more common.

Is It Backhanded Compliment or Left-Handed Compliment? (grammarist.com)

Thanks, don’t know how reliable that source is but fascinating to see back handed compliments surging after the 1980s

OP posts:
Beth216 · 25/07/2024 12:17

Boomer55 · 25/07/2024 12:15

Cack handed is what it used to be called around here.

No that's when you do something badly which is a completely different thing to back handed compliment. I've never heard left handed OP.

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:16

I’ve heard of people saying back handed compliments too but never cack handed compliments!

OP posts:
Boomer55 · 25/07/2024 12:15

Cack handed is what it used to be called around here.

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:15

They’re definitely both right, perhaps it’s a regional thing.

OP posts:
ICantLogIn · 25/07/2024 12:13

Talipesmum · 25/07/2024 12:11

I really don’t think it was. Try asking how many people here have ever heard of the phrase “left handed compliment”.

Show quote history

Already done, I feel. Hardly anyone!

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 25/07/2024 12:12

It's never been left handed you've picked that up wrongly somewhere

HotCrossBunplease · 25/07/2024 12:12

Literally nobody will understand what on earth you are on about if you say “left-handed compliment”.

Back handed isn’t a modern PC way of saying “left handed”, my grandparents would have said “back handed compliment” and they were born in the 1910s.

WhatNoRaisins · 25/07/2024 12:11

It probably made more sense when there was a lot of negativity around behind left handed.

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:11

BackOfAsda · 25/07/2024 12:03

Back handed

Left handed means cack handed (both are outdated)

Cack handed sounds awful 💩

OP posts:
Talipesmum · 25/07/2024 12:11

LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:07

Maybe back handed compliment is the more polite and up to date version but traditionally I think it was always a ‘left handed compliment’.

I really don’t think it was. Try asking how many people here have ever heard of the phrase “left handed compliment”.

cardibach · 25/07/2024 12:11

LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:09

I think I will train myself to say ‘double edged comment’ next time I accuse someone of giving me a left handed compliment.

A back handed compliment isn’t double edged though. It’s an insult dressed up as a compliment.

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:09

I think I will train myself to say ‘double edged comment’ next time I accuse someone of giving me a left handed compliment.

OP posts:
PinkArt · 25/07/2024 12:09

I've only ever heard back handed. As a left hander I really don't love the idea of a 'left handed compliment' being used like this - thankfully most of the shit said about or done to lefties has been left in the past now.

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:08

Tulipvase · 25/07/2024 12:05

Back handed compliments.

My son was convinced that the L plate on cars denoted the fact they were left handed.

This has tickled me quite hard!

OP posts:
mondaytosunday · 25/07/2024 12:08

I've heard back handed, never left handed. Both may be expressions but one seems far more common.

Original poster
LeftOrBack · 25/07/2024 12:07

Maybe back handed compliment is the more polite and up to date version but traditionally I think it was always a ‘left handed compliment’.

OP posts:
Tulipvase · 25/07/2024 12:05

Back handed compliments.

My son was convinced that the L plate on cars denoted the fact they were left handed.

RuthW · 25/07/2024 12:05

BaronessBomburst · 25/07/2024 12:00

Back-handed.
It's got nothing to do with being left-handed.

This.

I'm left handed.

I'm not back handed

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