Someone describes you as 'Quite slim' - what does that mean to you?

[FortunateSass]

Genuine question.. would you interpret it as Larger side of Slim? Borderline overweight? Almost Slim?
I've struggled with my body image my entire life, hid behind baggy clothes and loose fitting outfits.
The past few years I finally feel more at peace with my body and have started to wear my fitted clothes.
Today after discussing my lunch choice (salad) my colleague asked why I always eat healthy, I explained I wanted to shift a few pounds to which they said "Why? You're already quite slim?"

Very slim.

@Londonscallingme Sadly true! I'm trying though, small steps and all that. I've come so far in the past few years, honestly.

Did this really require a post?

For me, it would mean 'sort of slim', not extremely so.

I'm Irish, I think we use 'quite' differently though! Usually as a qualifier, not for emphasis.

So she's 'quite friendly' would be, 'she's pretty friendly, all good but not excessively so'

It's 'quite annoying' = 'not the worst thing ever but still fairly irritating'

On the broader point, I often obsess over innocuous, even positive, comments about my appearance. I get it. It's not good though so I actively have to not think about it & move on.

But it’s open to interpretation and the OP asked what it meant to posters. You can’t correct someone who tells you what it means to them just because it’s not what it means to you.

Then I wish you all the luck in the world in your continued journey towards self acceptance xx

@TinkerTiger What's the issue? If you don't like the post, no need to comment on it countless times?

Quite is an odd word. Sometimes used to mean very, sometimes to mean a bit. Slim to me would be the lower end to the middle of the healthy weight range, depending on build. Not thin/underweight, not the plumper end of healthy either.

I've had people call me "quite slim". I'm a size 12 and my bmi is usually around 26 so slightly overweight.

I'm perfectly happy with my weight and being called "quite slim" doesn't offend me at all because I think it's pretty accurate. I'm not visibly overweight but I'm not properly "slim" either, I am "quite slim".

@Londonscallingme Thanks you

Im not asking about specifics of height, OP seems to think that 'quite' means not very much of

So not very slim is what she thought was being inferred

So my question was that if someone said 'he's quite tall', do you think that means he is NOT tall

Quite noisy - do people think that means the person is NOT noisy or the playground is quiet rather than noisy?

The word quite means very or a lot of, or more than usual.

In this context I would say it means ‘quite’ as an addition, so moving towards ‘very’ slim

When on earth did we find that words become 'open to interpretation'?

Is this like Trumps alternative facts?

Thank god someone came along with the dictionary, I felt like I was going mad. Quite mad.

The word quite means very or a lot of, or more than usual.

It doesn't always!

'My house is quite tidy' = 'it's fine, not immaculate'.

In my usage, at least!

It has two meanings so it can be quite confusing.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/quite

This person had no right to question your choice of food OP.

My answer to them would have been "because I like salad "

Good luck on your journey.

Given the context you described, with your colleague asking why you had salad , I’d definitely see it as ‘ you are already slim, why loose weight’ in quite a pleasant/ nice /kind way, so it doesn’t sound to me that she meant anything negative at all.
Personally I’d take it as ‘slim without being skinny’, so more a size 10 than size 6/8 (roughly speaking)

@itsmylife7 Thanks very much

This^
Im this non native English speaker. I’ve had a few situations in the past when people took my “quite” as “very, very” and a bit negatively when I didn’t mean it. I tend to avoid “quite” now.
From me quite slim would mean that you were slim, it’s obvious and you didn’t need to watch pounds. However it wouldn’t mean very very slim or too thin but rather that you had a nice healthy figure.

When on earth did we find that words become 'open to interpretation'?

Huh? Of course words can have varied meanings & can be altered by context.

Here's a quick example: 'fierce'. In an Irish context, that can mean 'extremely', as well as being aggressive. Two very different meanings & usages.

The word quite means very or a lot of, or more than usual.

hence me posting that I think of quite slim as being bigger than slim because there is more than usual/more than slim.

Just to clarify, to me "quite" means a little bit.

So I would say "I quite like this film" if I liked the film a bit, but probably wouldn't watch it again.
Or "he was quite chatty" if someone was a bit on the talkative side but not annoyingly so.

@soupfiend

A bit slimmer than the average person, but not super-skinny.

To me: quite slim = almost skinny, almost too thin.