What is flattering?

What Does flattering Mean

The adjective flattering is used to qualify that or that which flatters . The verb flattering, in turn, refers to flattering, praising or condescending .

For example: "It was so flattering that, instead of conquering me, it annoyed me" , "The journalist published a flattering article about the offender that caused outrage in many people" , "Flattering with the audience, the singer stated on stage that it was of the best public in the world ” .
According to the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), a flattery - a term derived from the Occitan word lauzenja - is an affected compliment that is pronounced to achieve the favor, the will or the sympathy of an individual. One who is flattering, therefore, seeks to ingratiate himself with someone through praise.

Many times the flatterer incurs flattery . Suppose an employee spends his time praising his boss with expressions such as "You always have good ideas!" , “The company could not have a better leader than you” and “It is a pleasure to work under your orders” . For the rest of the workers, this guy is a flatterer who only pretends to look good with his hierarchical superior to obtain personal benefits.
This causes the adjective to be used in a derogatory or even aggressive way. By qualifying a woman or a man as flattering, it is intended to mark that their intention is to captivate or enchant someone who can favor them with something, regardless of whether what is said is true or if it coincides with what is thought. Returning to the previous example, the employee may believe that his boss is inept but, on the contrary, he manifests that he admires his ability.
It is important to note that in the RAE dictionary we find a second meaning that does not speak of exaggerated flattery , but simply of something that delights or pleases the senses. For example, we can speak of a "flattering tune" or a "flattering breeze."
All that said, we can get a pretty good idea of ​​the meaning and connotations of the word flattering . It is necessary to clarify that, despite not being a concept that is too complex or difficult to understand, it is not used frequently in everyday speech.
For this reason, we will see below some of the most common synonyms, which can be used to replace it in different contexts. In the first place, we will see those that refer to the meaning of "person who flatters": flattering, flattering, flattering, praising and cobista. On the other hand, we have the synonyms for "something that delights": satisfactory, pleasant and pleasant.
This difference that we can appreciate between both meanings is really curious: the same word that serves to describe a cloying action, sometimes with double intention, not very spontaneous, also allows us to adjective a pleasant and pleasant situation such as the sound of a beautiful melody or the evening breeze in front of the sea. We can say that the reason is the difference between the types of nouns, since in the first case it is always a human being, while in the second, an object or a meteorological phenomenon, for example.

With regard to its etymology, scholars of the language have more than one theory regarding its arrival in the Provençal form lauzenja , mentioned above. For many, the origin of this word and also of the French losenge is found in a francic word , lausinga , which could be translated as "trickery or deception" and which was collected in medieval Latin losinga .
However, others are inclined towards a Latin origin that starts from the Occitan term lauze , derived in turn from laus, laudis ( praise ) and its corresponding verb laudare (praise). One of the complications arises from the French homophone losange , which designates a flat cake, whose origin some confuse with that of flattery .

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