NOBODY knows whether saying ‘you look well’ means the recipient is very attractive or a bit chubby, it has emerged.
Despite seeming like a compliment, the ambiguous nature of the phrase when uttered by a British person suggests that it most likely is not.
Linguist Dr Joanna Kramer said: “Coming from the mouth of a person of a less petulant and snide nationality, ‘you look well’ would be a compliment kindly meant and gratefully received.
“But in the UK, intended meanings can range from ‘you look fantastic but I’m too bitter to say that and/or fear looking creepy’ to ‘your arse is so big it could have a harpoon in it and it would look like a toothpick’.
“We believe the origins of the phrase come from an era when wellness was associated with fatness because being overweight signalled wealth. However, that was around the time of Henry VIII and we don’t still congratulate people on their velvet pantaloons and not being in the advanced stages of syphilis. Well, except maybe in Shoreditch.
“Really, a lot depends on whether the person giving the compliment looks you up and down first and is a bitchy 35-year-old woman.”
