A Little Guide To Southern Compliments

Updated February 2023 — Lovers of language and strategic ambiguity will appreciate these examples

Photo by Matt ODell on Unsplash

Here’s a stereotype you can put out of your mind straight away. Walking slowly and talking slowly does not mean one thinks slowly.

Besides impressing me with their abiding kindness, the Southerners I’ve met in the past year have entirely eroded the unconscious bias I apparently held as a newcomer: “Why they drawl like drunken sloths on downers. They can’t be all that bright!”

I came to learn just how wrong I was by deciphering (I hope) a handful of Southern compliments.

They come in two varieties: seeming compliments that are in fact insults, and seeming insults that are in fact compliments.

I give examples of both, and then describe the only safe way to respond to either.

Seeming Compliments That Are Actually Insults

I’m sure I haven’t got the precise meaning of all these correct. But I hope they’re directionally accurate.

1. Ain’t that nice

“That is not nice and you’re an idiot.” Likely additional meanings: “I don’t care.” or “I am envious.” A tricky one.