fishing for compliments
to try to get someone to praise you
TRANSLATION
fishing for compliments = auf Lob aus sein, Komplimente hören wollen --- GOOGLE INDEX fishing for compliments: approximately 1,400,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
Aquarium Exhibitors Go FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS
(South Florida Sun newspaper)
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Dressing for Valentine's Day is about nothing more evil than simply FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS.
(The Guardian)
(South Florida Sun newspaper)
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Dressing for Valentine's Day is about nothing more evil than simply FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS.
(The Guardian)
Did you
know?
fishing for compliments
idiom
- to try to make someone praise you, often by criticizing yourself to them
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)
---
Apart from the act of catching or trying to catch a fish, "fishing" can refer to "looking for something by feeling one's way around" (He fished in both pockets for his car keys) and also "seeking something in a tricky or indirect fashion." Thus "fishing for compliments" is an indirect way of trying to get someone to praise you or express admiration for you. For instance, a statement like, "I cleaned the house and took out the rubbish while you were gone" could be interpreted as fishing for a compliment. Or it might be considered "fishy," an adjective that means suspicious or questionable.
Fish stems from the Old English "fisc" and the Greek "fiskaz." Compliment is from the Italian "compliment" "an expression of respect and civility," which derives from the Vulgar Latin "complire" via the sense of "complete the obligations of politeness."
Changing the "i" to "e" in compliment creates a new word: complement. It has the same root as compliment, but refers to something that "completes, makes up a whole, or brings something to perfection." It is often used in the verb form (The new wall paper complements the furniture in the living room). Because only one letter is different between the two words, they are often misspelled and thus sometimes used in the wrong context.
Journalist and humorist Helen Rowland once said, "When a man makes a woman his wife, it's the highest compliment he can pay her, and it's usually the last." Is that why women sometimes feel like they have to go "fishing for compliments?" That's a question for the television talk shows, but this old joke proves that the female species has a reason to want to go fishing:
A woman is standing in front of a mirror and says to her husband, "Look at me! I am fat, old, wrinkled and no longer pretty."
The husband then replies, "Well, your eyesight is perfect."
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Some people feel the need to constantly fish for compliments."
idiom
- to try to make someone praise you, often by criticizing yourself to them
(Cambridge Idioms Dictionary)
---
Apart from the act of catching or trying to catch a fish, "fishing" can refer to "looking for something by feeling one's way around" (He fished in both pockets for his car keys) and also "seeking something in a tricky or indirect fashion." Thus "fishing for compliments" is an indirect way of trying to get someone to praise you or express admiration for you. For instance, a statement like, "I cleaned the house and took out the rubbish while you were gone" could be interpreted as fishing for a compliment. Or it might be considered "fishy," an adjective that means suspicious or questionable.
Fish stems from the Old English "fisc" and the Greek "fiskaz." Compliment is from the Italian "compliment" "an expression of respect and civility," which derives from the Vulgar Latin "complire" via the sense of "complete the obligations of politeness."
Changing the "i" to "e" in compliment creates a new word: complement. It has the same root as compliment, but refers to something that "completes, makes up a whole, or brings something to perfection." It is often used in the verb form (The new wall paper complements the furniture in the living room). Because only one letter is different between the two words, they are often misspelled and thus sometimes used in the wrong context.
Journalist and humorist Helen Rowland once said, "When a man makes a woman his wife, it's the highest compliment he can pay her, and it's usually the last." Is that why women sometimes feel like they have to go "fishing for compliments?" That's a question for the television talk shows, but this old joke proves that the female species has a reason to want to go fishing:
A woman is standing in front of a mirror and says to her husband, "Look at me! I am fat, old, wrinkled and no longer pretty."
The husband then replies, "Well, your eyesight is perfect."
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Some people feel the need to constantly fish for compliments."
