Was this a compliment?

[Quantess]

In 11th or 12th grade in high school Political Science class debate, I was assigned to argue that Andrew Jackson was a truly great president, and my opponent was assigned to argue he was a truly awful president.

I reached deep into the bag of spin and convincingly fought back against all the very reasonable, sensible arguments why Andrew Jackson was a lousy president. My opponent lost her cool and her eyes were stinking red and angry while I calmly countered with all the pro-Andrew Jackson spin I could think of.

The teacher decided that I won the debate. As I went back to my desk he said to me, "Good job. Guess you're not an airhead".

[rhett o rick]

1. Ouch. nm

[rustydog]

2. Is this what one calls a back-handed compliment?

[Cerridwen]

5. I gotta learn to type faster. :) n/t

[demosincebirth]

23. Left handed compliment.

[Cerridwen]

3. I believe the phrase is

'backhanded compliment.'

I'll leave it at that.

[Rex]

6. That is it right there. +1

[Rex]

4. Ugh.

Lemme guess, the teacher was a cynical knowitall?

[Quantess]

12. Yes.

And pretty liberal. He was in his 50s and my friends and I suspected he smoked a lot of weed (who knows). I thought he was a respectable teacher up until that point but after that I thought he was kind of an asshole.

[Rex]

18. Sorry you had a teacher like that.

They are so smart that the rest of the human race is inferior to them and they let the rest of us know it...

Yeah had those type, I cannot stand it when they think a snide remark is somehow witty.

I think you nailed it...the guy is an asshole.

[Crankie Avalon]

7. Did your teacher have any prior reason to think you were an "airhead"?

[Quantess]

9. I was always a really good student. It took me by surprise.

Maybe because I was quiet and cute?

[Crankie Avalon]

11. Was he a jerk who thought he was too good to have to be teaching any of you?

Was he condescending to all of you?

[Quantess]

15. No. The comment came as a surprise to me.

It's possible he hated me for successfully arguing that Andrew Jackson was a great president....? Or that he just assumed all cute high school girls are airheads.

[Crankie Avalon]

17. I doubt it was for making Andrew Jackson look good.

Maybe it was the cute girl thing, or maybe he was just making a bad joke.

[Warpy]

8. Yes, like listening to my symbolic logic prof

tell me he was awarding my "A" with extreme reluctance because he knew anybody with a vagina was incapable of logical thinking, although he didn't put it quite that way.

I didn't tell him what a breeze I found that course, Lewis Carroll and all.

[sad sally]

10. Did you use this as one of your pro arguments?

In 1836 Jackson refused to renew the Bank of United States charter. Under his watch the US national debt went to zero for the first and last time in our nation’s history.

[Quantess]

16. Probably. It was so many years ago, I forgot exactly what I said.

Andrew Jackson maybe wasn't the worst ever. Defending GW Bush would have been a little more challenging, LOL.

[saras]

13. You were a successful liar. If you value this skill, it was a compliment.

On the other hand, if you feel ashamed that you could betray your own beliefs and emotions with your actions that easily, it might not be a compliment at all.

You exhibited a skill. You did it well.

[Quantess]

19. But back then I hadn't decided for sure that he was a lousy president.

It only became clear to me later in life. All I knew was that it would be a bit of a challenge to defend this guy that I had just learned about.

Our textbook gave a "fair and balanced" account with just as many pros as cons, I remember. At the time, I didn't feel dishonest at all for pulling talking points right out of the textbook. It was just an assignment to me.

But none of that has anything to do with being an airhead or not. I guess I was supposed to be flattered to not be judged a silly mindless twit.

[LadyHawkAZ]

14. Ouch. n/t

[FarLeftFist]

20. Jackson was a terrible president.

[zbdent]

21. If you really are that concerned about it, and the fellow is still alive ...

why not ask? And point out what type of "success" you've had ...

You may be surprised ...

[The Doctor.]

22. On the face of it, it seems he thought it was a compliment, but the insinuation was that you

'appeared' to be an airhead otherwise.

Given only the information, it would seem his opinion of you was generally unkind.

More information might reveal a different process though.

Now, if he had said, "Wow, that was impressive for a blonde." Then I would say he's definitely a coiffist