We Hit Peak 2019

[BmorePat87]

(12-12-2019, 04:10 PM)GMDino Wrote: I think telling someone they are "well spoken" is a compliment.  As long as it doesn't have some kind of comment that you are "surprised" by that.

However if the person receiving the compliment (any compliment) takes it "the wrong way" it is incumbent on you to reassure it was not meant "backhanded".

All you can be in sincere.  You cannot control how the other person hears and reacts to what you said.  

It certainly can be a compliment. Unfortunately, there's a history of it being used almost exclusively to describe black people, and the implication is that they are well spoken ... for a black person. Well-Spoken and articulate are also things that go without saying for Rhodes Scholars or Senators. Why use it? There is no doubt that it is likely sincere, but sincerity doesn't change how implicit bias impacts people.

Like I have suggested, read the Times article I posted.