her -"I just finished graduate school and got my Masters in graphic design"
Me - "Thats neat"
This was an actual conversation I had with a girl in Baltimore, my lack of enthusiasm and praise took her visibly off balance. She was waiting for the "Wow, thats so amazing, congratulations!"
The expected answer is "wow thats great" and more praise, by simply going with "thats neat" you arent saying anything bad or negative, but the connotation is backhanded. Neat is the kind of word you use when talking to children. A three year old does a shitty cartwheel and goes "Look at me look at me" you say "that was neat" to appease them.
Me - "Thats neat"
This was an actual conversation I had with a girl in Baltimore, my lack of enthusiasm and praise took her visibly off balance. She was waiting for the "Wow, thats so amazing, congratulations!"
The expected answer is "wow thats great" and more praise, by simply going with "thats neat" you arent saying anything bad or negative, but the connotation is backhanded. Neat is the kind of word you use when talking to children. A three year old does a shitty cartwheel and goes "Look at me look at me" you say "that was neat" to appease them.