Of course, it would be nice for us all to live in a world where it would never occur to anyone to ask: what does it mean to flatter? In our reality, hardly anyone is familiar with coercive compliments. Maybe some people do not know the meaning of the word, but it is easy to fix it. Consider the meaning of the concept, its synonyms and give examples.
Value
The dictionary gives such options:
- To give false compliments in pursuit of selfish, selfish goals. In any community, there is a leader (formal or not) and his retinue is sneaky. The latter sing songs about how wonderful their leader is. Remember the school, for sure this happened in it.
- Compliments that aim to support a person or make him comfortable. You can also entertain your pride or other feeling.
The second meaning needs a more detailed explanation than the first, because it is less common. The flattery usually goes bad. It began when the fable “Crow and the Fox” was published by A. I. Krylov, and since then no way “flattery” can be justified, not become a positive word in the eyes of the people. Further prospects for this word are also vague - what to do, the power of tradition!
The reader, probably, understood that the action “flatter” is something that can carry different semantic load. To consolidate the newfound knowledge, we analyze synonyms.
Swap words
“Flattering” is a relatively neutral word, not rude and not offensive (except slightly), but it has synonyms that can really hurt a person. Of course, in this case we are talking about the first meaning. Take a look at such replacements:
- give a fuss
- fawn;
- to please;
- lie;
- to lie.
Synonyms can be not only separate words, but also whole expressions:
- prevaricate;
- to embellish / distort the facts;
- sing praises.
And finally, if there is a need to replace the good meaning of the word, then you can use the verbs:
Yes, it's hard to believe, but it's all a substitute for the word “flatter”. Now, let's talk about what sneakiness is in its foundation.
Flattery is the wrong conclusion. The Fletcher Reed Case
It is very simple to call a person who smokes incense a higher, offensive or rude word. It’s much harder to understand. A flatterer is not necessarily a bad person. Recall the film "Liar, Liar." Fletcher Reid was not a fool or a scoundrel at all, although his moral appearance at the beginning of the movie inspires certain concerns. It’s just that the hero of Jim Carrey sincerely believed that this is how he would be able to crawl into the company’s management faster and become a partner. F. Reed both worked hard, and managed to compliment, and made gifts to everyone and everyone on whom his career depended.
Sometimes a person’s desire to flatter is the result of incorrect calculations, which, in fact, Reed soon became convinced of. In general, Americans love to expose their own main fetish - the American dream.
Flattery as a conscious way of being
But there is another story when a person clearly understands that flattering (what this means, we have already found out) is the only way to somehow settle down in life, because there are no special abilities. In addition, in this sense, being a “court incense smoker” is much simpler than by labor proving your suitability. It all starts at school, and then, if the card lays down, it continues at work. Such people, of course, do not achieve anything supernatural in life, but they live without straining too much. In this, too, some will find some meaning.
Now the reader knows what “flatter” is. How to understand the term, he should not explain. The problem is whether to choose the adaptation to reality through the praise of higher-level or still make their way in life, even if it is much harder.