How would you feel at being described as “formidable”

[Saloop]

Positive or negative…?

I'd be happy with that.

Pleased.

Pretty pleased. Not to be messed with.

I’d love it because I’m definitely not 😆

Depends, doesn’t it. Can mean super efficient and bright or a bit of a bully. In general, I’d say positive. If people meant negative they’d use other adjectives.

Definitely positive!

I’d rather be respected than liked. Some people find it more important to be liked than respected.

Formidable suggests a level of respect.

I would LOVE that. Would never happen though, I'm more often described as 'Who?'

p.s. I hope you’re going to give some more context once you’ve got a few more replies?

I like it!

Thrilled! This is what I aspire to.

At work - positive. In the context of a relationship or friendship - negative.

I’d love it because I’m definitely not 😆

Me too!

Flattered.

Chuffed

Delighted - as long as it wasn’t being used as a euphemism for “bully”. It’s one of those descriptions like “doesn’t suffer fools gladly” where it might be polite way of saying obnoxious.

I’d take it as a huge compliment.

Depends on context
corporate career? Positive
career in teaching/nursing/social work etc - I’d take it as a negative and think I’m hard to work with.

i would personally hate to be described as formidable, but that’s just me. For many people it would be a good thing

I would not like that. I don't think it's a great thing to aspire for people to be scared of you. That's what formidable means to me.

I'm quite surprised at how many people would see it as a positive!

It depends. I think it sounds like someone who is probably unpleasant to their staff.

I was introduced at a meeting as “the formidable Saloop” 👀👀👀

Context - the person who introduced me has never even met me before although we work in the same organisation.

It’s been playing on my mind since Wednesday

Positive. Watch Julia Gillard’s 2012 ‘misogyny’ speech to the Australian Parliament. That’s what formidable looks like.

When somebody wants to accuse a woman of being strong, they don’t tend to sugar the pill. If the person using the ‘formidable’ description wanted to say ‘X is a harridan’ or ‘X is a virago’, then that’s usually what they would say. If they understood what those words meant, of course.

OK so the person who introduced you has used ‘formidable’ because they heard it from somebody else. If they had heard bad things, they wouldn’t have qualified the introduction.

It means you have a big reputation as an impressive badass