You ever got a burn so bad and so slick that you couldn’t help but admire it even though you were actively hosing yourself down from the pain? Those experiences stick with you for a very long time.
Like this gem from Lisa McGee on Twitter:
What’s the best sly dig you’ve ever received? In my early twenties a guy told me I inspired him to be a writer because he’d seen one of my plays and it was so terrible he thought he definitely could do better. Stunning work.
— Lisa McGee (@LisaMMcGee) April 24, 2020
What can we say but DAMN. Where do you even get the audacity to hit somebody like that? And yet, it’s incredibly common, as evidenced by the very long list of replies in the thread from people who wanted to share their own awful, painful, and sometimes funny moments of humiliation. Here are just a few.
14. Thanks?
Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
I’ve been tokd numerous times I would be a great girlfriend if I wasn’t so ugly because I have a great personality 🖕
— Emily Savage (@SavageEmily) April 24, 2020
13. ((dog whistle intensifies))
What a fun way to let someone know you’re a bigot!
Some older chap I used to work with: “it’s great you’re on telly so much given you know… laughs… no seriously, it’s great. Good for you. Listen, these days, do they have to hit a quota or do they get some extra funding if they have people like you on? Genuine question?”
— Ayesha Hazarika (@ayeshahazarika) April 24, 2020
12. So brave
Please don’t call people courageous for having a face. Come on.
I was told I was so brave for not wearing make up covering scars because ‘I just wouldn’t be able to leave the house if it was my face’. Thanks……?
— Helen Mac Hale (@HelHearts) April 24, 2020
11. Clap. Back.
Now EVERYBODY’s gettin’ burned.
I was told (while not wearing makeup) that I would be a great before and after demo for a makeup party she was hosting. I told her makeup might make my face pretty but nothing fixes her ugly heart.
— Christy YL (@chy2400) April 24, 2020
10. Perfect camouflage
Ironically, this would prove to be a very memorable moment.
I was told by a former colleague during a meeting that I’d make an excellent spy because I had absolutely nothing memorable about me.
— BROOME82 (@BROOME82) April 24, 2020
9. Wonder aloud
Welp. Job security for me, I guess.
Wrote this and deleted it once already but here goes. As a student actor I worried out loud that I might not be attractive enough to make it as a professional and my friend told me not to worry, there are LOADS of successful ugly actors.
— David Nicholls (@DavidNWriter) April 24, 2020
8. Dear old dad
Don’t pretend you had nothing to do with this, GRANDMA.
My maternal grandmother told me that she was sorry I “got my father’s looks” 😭💀
— R, tlou2 spoilers, they/them 🪐 (@_enjorlas) April 24, 2020
7. Chewing the fat
This post makes me picture a catty version of Mary Poppins.
I once bumped into the rather posh and very catty mother of an ex-girlfriend, who told me how wonderful it was to see me -‘especially looking so well-fed’.
— Paul Carnahan (@pacarnahan) April 24, 2020
6. Don’t you wish…
Humility must also be quite a burden, huh?
Someone once said to me “be glad you’re not gorgeous like me because it’s more of a curse than a blessing.” 😂🤣
— Lynnie (@atoakhaven) April 24, 2020
5. You look great!
It’s just the “you” part of you that people don’t like.
When I asked my sister @gugagubrath why I was single she said it wasn’t my looks so must be my personality 🤣
— Yvonne Murray (@yvonnemurray) April 24, 2020
4. Double negative
All these flavors and you still choose to be salty.
Actual friends once introduced me & @jonatharden to other friends as “not altogether unsuccessful” around a dinner table once.
— Bronágh Taggart (@weebeetee) April 24, 2020
3. I see you
What have you heard?!
A man (actually it was the famous Gerry from that Soho booze shop ‘Gerry’s’) came up to me and said “don’t listen to what others say, I think you’re quite pretty.” Literally apropos of nothing.
— Lals Cotton (@lalscotton) April 24, 2020
2. Class act
Is it still 1850 in the UK or what?
When I was at Brighton Uni a fellow student condescended to me that I was “working class made good.”
— Emma Frost (@EmmaFrostLondon) April 24, 2020
1. Sweet progress
Enough is enough.
I lost 20lbs and was delighted with myself until a friend/ Geebag told me to keep at it
— Fiona O’Brien (@RealFionaO) April 24, 2020
Woof. That is some hot fire. I hope the people who said all these things have at least since gained awareness that sticks and stones may break bones but words will end up on a Twitter thread for all to see.
Do you have a story like this?
Share it with us in the comments.