Years ago, a coworker and I were on a project with a guy we both thought was a total dummy, and worse, a dummy who talked all the time in meetings. We rarely expressed our opinion on this guy openly to each other—me and the coworker didn’t know each other well enough to be comfortable talking a lot of trash—but once, when discussing him privately after yet another useless meeting, my coworker drew in breath, sighed, looked at me, and said: “I’m sure he’s a great father.” We both laughed, and I still remember this as one of the most cutting insults I’ve heard.
If that was your first statement, then there is a whiff of ‘damning with faint praise’.
“So, how was the big wedding?” ”...well, the couple clearly loves each other very much.” ”...I see. That bad, huh.”
Years ago, a coworker and I were on a project with a guy we both thought was a total dummy, and worse, a dummy who talked all the time in meetings. We rarely expressed our opinion on this guy openly to each other—me and the coworker didn’t know each other well enough to be comfortable talking a lot of trash—but once, when discussing him privately after yet another useless meeting, my coworker drew in breath, sighed, looked at me, and said: “I’m sure he’s a great father.” We both laughed, and I still remember this as one of the most cutting insults I’ve heard.