Mortified - what do you mean if you say someone "looks well"?

[munemema]

I say it a lot. And I mean what it says, a genuine compliment.

I might mean that they seem happier or less tired than usual or that the haircut/make up suits them but I haven't been able to put my finger on the change, maybe they've lost some weight and their clothes fit better or perhaps they have a bit more colour in their cheeks.

Someone has just told me it's a universal euphemism for "you've gained weight"

You have put on weight!

Oh crap, I sometimes say that to people. Surely it just means you think they look healthy. Bright skin, shiny hair, well rested and happy.
I wonder how many people I’ve offended?

I say this whenever I think someone looks really nice - healthy and happy etc. I've never heard of the weight gain thing!!

This just goes to show that some people can twist anything into a dig

I don't think just being taught (somewhere along the line) that a phrase means something different to another person is "twisting" it into a dig?

I hate it - only ever said to me when I was 6m+ pregnant, usually while staring at my (not particularly large, but large for me) bump. Urgh.

Once baby was here the terminology shifted to ‘you look great/amazing/knackered’ which I much preferred.

I say it when I mean the person looks good - happy, well rested, bright eyed, etc. It’s only on here that I’ve read that it means you look fat. No idea why it’s been twisted into an insult.

I had never heard that it meant looking fat. I've used it plenty of times over the years to mean someone I've seen for the first time in a long while looked good. Relaxed, happy, that sort of thing. I truly hope I wasn't insulting them.

I don't say it because, to me, it means "You look like you've put on weight".

Just to give a bit of context, my mum used to say "you look well" to people who'd been ill, lost weight but were then recovering and had put some back on. So in this sense it meant both - they had put on weight but this did make them look well.

If I think someone looks different (new hair, better skin, new wardrobe), I'll say "you look great" or "you look fabulous". If someone looks basically the same as last time I saw them but basically fine I won't really say anything about their appearance unless it's to comment on something specific like clothes or hair.

I mean that they look healthy and happy and as though life is suiting them. Whether I think they look fat or not is a different matter.

As a PP said I've only every associated it with having lost weight.

In my head I imagine it being said in a really catty way by a bitchy acquaintance when meaning someone has put on weight.

"Oh hello Sandra, you're looking very... ... well.".

I wouldn't worry about the times you've said it op. I've had it said to me (by nice kind people, not enemies) and never taken offence.

I take it as put on weight. My nanny would always say this to people.

I mean they look lovely. No hint whatsoever of them having put on weight. But since I heard some people think it means this I tend to say, 'You look great' instead.

I've never come across it in the you look fat sense (and I do look fat!).

The usual context for me is when someone's back from holiday and they've got a bit of colour.

I've read a few Irish novels where it's used instead of "good", e.g. "the suit looked well on her" or "she looked well in the dress" sort of thing. But that might just have been Maeve Binchy!

That they look well.
But I have no time for people who are over sensitive or who make back handed compliments, so I avoid people who would have an issue with this.

Oh god. I get told I am looking well all the time! At 12 and a half stone and losing, surely I can’t be getting fatter each time I see people

I think if someone says “you look well” as a veiled insult than it says more about them than the person they are having a dig at. Much more.

I'd say it if someone was looking fit and healthy and energised. That's more likely to be if they have actually lost weight and are looking good.
I'd never associate it with having put on weight. If they've gained weight I wouldn't be so rude as to mention it (although I might be thinking it).
I'm wondering if the different meanings are regional or if I've just completely missed it.

I told a friend of mine this yesterday, she did honestly look well! She'd been on holiday, had a bit of colour to her cheeks and her hair was all sunkissed. I hope she didn't think I was suggesting she looked like she'd put on weight.

It's a standing joke in our family that it's means you look fat. I would never say it (in its honest meaning) to an acquaintance in case they used it the same way.

Would the people who
incorrectly suggest it means ‘you look fat’ ever use it in that context? why do you seem to think so many others do?

When I say it it's because the person is looking ... well.

I've never associated it with someone being fat or as a veiled insult.

I always thought it meant you look a bit fat too, although my husband and i imagine most people take it as how you meant it which is 'you look well!'
I do know some of the other ladies are with me though as there was a long standing joke when it was said in the office to someone

I've only ever had this said to me when I've lost weight.

Anyone who thinks it means anything other than a compliment is delusional. Or believes twaddle they read on the interweb. Or both.

well fed.