{"id":6412,"date":"2022-08-28T18:17:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-28T18:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=6412"},"modified":"2022-08-28T18:17:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T18:17:23","slug":"insincere-flattery-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/insincere-flattery-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Insincere Flattery \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is someone flattering you with compliments? Chances are they\u2019re trying to get you to do something for you. <strong><em>Insincere flattery<\/em><\/strong> is frustrating to handle, and you might find yourself telling the person to shut their mouth.<\/p>\n<p>This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The expression \u2018<em>insincere flattery\u2019<\/em> means that someone is showering you with praise and compliments to earn your trust. After they finish building rapport with you, they will ask you for a favor. Insincere flattery is a manipulative social strategy employed by sociopathic people.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re all guilty of using <em>insincere flattery<\/em> to get our way at some point in our lives. However, using it frequently to manipulate people into doing what you want might mean you have a sociopathic personality.<\/p>\n<p>Most people can see through <em>insincere flattery<\/em>, and they won\u2019t appreciate you trying to manipulate them into doing what you want. It\u2019s an inauthentic approach to complimenting someone and has the opposite of the intended effect in most cases.<\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cJust stop it with your insincere flattery. I\u2019m tired of you trying to manipulate me. Do you think I\u2019m stupid?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy is it that you go ahead with the insincere flattery every time you want me to do something for you? It\u2019s kind of manipulative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cListen, I don\u2019t care about your sociopathic attempt to stroke my ego. Don\u2019t bother with the insincere flattery; it\u2019s not getting you anywhere with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks for reaching out, but I don\u2019t do MLM, and your insincere flattery is shameful. I\u2019m blocking you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6413\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Insincere-Flattery-232x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"165\" height=\"213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Insincere-Flattery-232x300.jpg 232w, https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Insincere-Flattery.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 165px) 100vw, 165px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-6414\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Insincere-Flattery2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"165\" height=\"184\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The expression \u2018insincere flattery\u2019 originates from the word \u2018flattery.\u2019 Flattery by itself is insincere. You flatter someone with praise when you have an ulterior motive behind stroking their ego. Flattery makes another person feel good because everyone wants people to speak of them in a good light.<\/p>\n<p>However, insincere flattery makes it blatantly obvious that the other person is trying to play to your ego to get you to do something for them. Some suggest this tactic comes from sales, where salespeople will use flattery to manipulate a prospect into a deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Flater\u2019 is the root word of \u2018flatter,\u2019 originating in the 1600s in old English. The original meaning of flatter\u2019 is to \u201cstroke with the hand or caress.\u201d So, it makes sense that flattery involves stroking another person\u2019s ego to get what you want from them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Art of genuine appreciation vs Insincere flattery\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CMNqVDGGqIk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Insincere Flattery<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Blowing smoke.<\/li>\n<li>Talking nonsense.<\/li>\n<li>Sucking up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Insincere Flattery<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Sincere flattery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Insincere flattery.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Insincere Flattery Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>Some people may use the phrase \u2018insincere flattery\u2019 to describe insults or other derogatory terms said to them by others. However, insincere flattery involves someone laying insincere compliments on your to manipulate your attitude toward them.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Insincere Flattery<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the expression \u2018insincere flattery\u2019 when you want to tell someone that you know they\u2019re trying to manipulate you. Someone trying to speak to your ego might have a secondary motive, such as getting you to sign up for an MLM scam.<\/p>\n<p>When you tell someone to stop with their insincere flattery, it produces the opposite reaction of what they expect from your response. If you feel that someone is being nice to you, and they usually aren\u2019t, they could use insincere flattery to get you to do something for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Is someone flattering you with compliments? Chances are they\u2019re trying to get you to do something for you. Insincere flattery is frustrating to handle, and you might find yourself telling the person to shut their mouth. This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The expression \u2018insincere flattery\u2019 means that someone is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6412"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8209,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6412\/revisions\/8209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}