The Latin term adulāri came to our language as flattering. The concept refers to saying or doing what is thought to satisfy or like another person. For example: “In public, it is always convenient to flatter the boss and not mark his mistakes”, “If you think that, because you are going to flatter me all day, I will forgive you, you are very wrong”, “There are leaders who want to grow in the government for flattering the president. ”
Flattery can be said to be praising for some particular purpose. The subject who flatters another does not sincerely or disinterestedly, but exaggerates or invents his admiration to make the flattered individual happy with him. Thus, he hopes to get favors from you.
Flattery usually appears on land where there are people who hold a certain power. Rulers are often flattered with the intention of making a profit. A mayor’s secretary may consistently flatter his boss in hopes of being appointed to a higher-paying position, to name one possibility.
Those who receive flattery may react differently. There are people who choose humility and who do not enjoy excessive flattery; others, on the other hand, promote a cult of personality and seek to constantly listen to praise and praise. These last subjects surround themselves with flatterers.
Sometimes it is difficult to find the difference between flattery and flattery; This last verb, which is considered one of the synonyms of flattery, can also be defined as “showing affection to a person through actions or words that please him”, “satisfying someone through our actions”. As can be seen, a compliment does not always hide the intention of satisfying certain personal interests; on the contrary, it may consist of an absolutely genuine show of admiration.
Flattering can be a very dangerous action if the recipient of the comments is a child; This happens in many families and in the school environment, especially with individuals of great intellectual capacity. When parents and teachers flatter a child that they consider special, they do not succeed in strengthening their confidence but instead make them a superb being and distort their perception of the outside world, as they make them believe that their qualities have no limits, that everyone should surrender at your feet.
It is important to distinguish between genuine appreciation, which is developed sincerely to express appreciation for one’s neighbor, and the act of flattery, which is selfish as it responds to the flatterer’s interests.
Recognizing the people around us for their virtues and showing ourselves admired before them is an act of humility that enriches both parties. Contrary to envy, it consists in understanding that each one has his or her own talents and defects, and that differences should not be the cause of confrontations but of union to become stronger.
As unfortunate as it may be, it is not very common to find this degree of sincerity in human relationships, but flattery is much more frequent. Also, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the two actions, since the line that divides them can be very thin.
One of the characteristics that we must take into account to recognize the flattery of genuine appreciation is intonation: since when flattering we do not express ourselves sincerely, it is possible to appreciate a forced articulation, which does not seem to be in tune with the words we pronounce; on the contrary, when expressing our admiration for someone spontaneously, we do not voluntarily seek the appropriate intonation, but it arises naturally according to our culture.
