You're The Greatest

I believe in encouraging people. However...I feel the encouragement you give, should be based on something that actually pertains, rather than be a total invention, Most intelligent people, will know when you're only humouring them, and are not
likely to be encouraged by your over blown words. This is why, for instance, you might focus on paying a compliment, on the
"colour" of a woman's dress, rather than the way it fits her, or on the "strong images' in someone's poem, that you otherwise felt, had too much frothing at the mouth, in it. As you reach for something relevant to say, however, you have to watch that
you don't "damn someone with faint praise", or you would have been better off, not saying anything. I remember someone
who told me, on more than one occasion, "You're the Greatest!". Each time this was said, I would think, "At last...someone
who recognizes my true worth", and have my ego boosted for a little while after. That is...until one night I was at a gathering filled with chatting people. Sure enough, the man with the quick compliments, came along, and before you know it, he was telling me, I was the greatest, making me feel appreciated. That is....until I heard him say to several other people in the room, "You're The Greatest!". This is when the grammar meister in me kicked in, reminding me, that ten people in the same room, can't all be the greatest, at the same time. From that time on, whenever I was chirpily told this particular superlative, by this person, I no longer felt boosted by these words, knowing that it was back to the drawing board for me, if I was, indeed, ever going to become..."The Greatest!"............Quester.