Back handed compliment

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Origin of Phrases - B

Back handed compliment

Meaning: A compliment that also insults or puts down at the same time.

Example: They gave me a backhanded compliment when they said I was smart for a girl.

Origin: Back-handed is synonymous with left-handed. For example in tennis, a backhand stroke is a strike by a right-handed player from the left side of the body. The left side of the body has always been deemed sinister. The Latin word for left is sinestra. Hence, back-handed means round-about, indirect, or devious.

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