History Main / DismissingACompliment

->''"Oh, I bet you say that to all the devil girls"''.

* In the second season of ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', Professor Chronos didn't seem to like it all when the students were cheering for him during his duel with Napolean. (As he put it in the dub, under his breath, "I think I liked it better when they hated me...")

* In ''Series/HoratioHornblower'', Archie Kennedy keeps dismissing compliments from his friend Horatio Hornblower. Archie is a sidekick to Horatio's [[TheHero Hero]] and often feels bitter, being overshadowed by his friend's amazing luck and heroic qualities. When they accidentally get together in Spanish prison after Archie was lost at sea in "The Duchess and the Devil", Archie is completely broken. Horatio insists that he needs him to survive, but Archie doesn't believe him. In "The Frogs and the Lobsters", Archie suffers a panic attack when he's in charge of holding a strategically important bridge. Horatio tries to calm him down and insists that he's a capable officer. Archie thinks he has no place being an Acting Lieutenant and he keeps panicking. (He later gets over it when he has to steady his men.)

** While comforting Monica over her single status, Chandler tells her: "Who wouldn't want you?" but she passes it off with a joke. Later subverted when he tells her she was the most beautiful woman in the room...and she asks if he's serious.(RelationshipUpgrade ensues).

Alice hears a compliment -- of any type and quite possibly sincere -- from Bob and says that it was not sincere, such as doubting he meant it for her particularly, or calling him a charmer, or a rogue, a silver-tongued devil or other less than honest characterization, or it flattery, or telling him to stop it, or describing it as an exaggeration.

* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'': This is a chronic flaw of the title character, owing to her colossal lack of self esteem. Even when being told she's a good person and a good hero by Mind***k - someone she knows CannotTellALie[[note]]MF communicates telepathically and her true thoughts always slip through[[/note]], her immediate response was an embarrassed "No, I'm not!"

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', Jerin indirectly dismisses the compliment his sisters pay him in assuming that noblewomen will pay a big sum as "brother's price" (that world's equivalent of a bride price), because Jerin is so beautiful. Jerin himself thinks it's just because they're his sisters that they have such a high opinion of him, and is afraid of disappointing their hopes. [[spoiler: He needn't have worried, he fetches the sum they thought he would, and they could easily have demanded more.]]

* In ''Series/HoratioHornblower'', Archie Kennedy keeps dismissing compliments from his friend Horatio Hornblower. Archie is a sidekick to Horatio's [[TheHero Hero]] and often feels bitter, being overshadowed by his friend's amazing luck and heroic qualities. When they accidentally get together in Spanish prison after Archie was lost at sea in "The Duchess and the Devil", Archie is completely broken. Horatio insists that he needs him to survive, but Archie doesn't believe him. In "The Frogs and the Lobsters", Archie suffers a panic attack when he's in charge of holding a strategically important bridge. Horatio tries to calm him down and insists that he's a capable officer. Archie thinks he has no place being an Acting Lieutenant and he keeps panicing. (He later gets over it when he has to steady his men.)

* The Confucian etiquette in ''Literature/WaterMargin'' means that when any two of the heroes meet for the first time--which happens [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a lot]]--they're each contractually obligated to say how famous and awesome the other is, and to deny their own fame and awesomeness. For example, Chao Gai is indeed famous, wealthy, and valiant, but when he presents himself to the leader of the Liangshan outlaws:

%%* In Fanfiction this is very common for [[MyLittlePony Fluttershy]] to do.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2009-11-12 Fuschia envisions saying this to Crimney]].

* In FanFiction this is very common for [[MyLittlePony Fluttershy]] to do.
* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': Italy did this to Germany and Japan. Did it work? Nope.

* ''Fanfic/WhereTalentGoesToDie''

* In ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'':

-->'''Shorty''': Whoa, somebody get me a glass, 'cause I just found a tall drink of water.\\

* In ''Disney/TreasurePlanet'', Captain Amelia tells Silver he can save the flattery for his spaceport floozies.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}: This is a chronic flaw of the title character, owing to her colossal lack of self esteem. Even when being told she's a good person and a good hero by Mind***k - someone she knows CannotTellALie[[note]]MF communicates telepathically and her true thoughts always slip through[[/note]], her immediate response was an embarrassed "No, I'm not!"

[[folder:Comic Books]

** The Japanese tendency to do this is discussed in one conversation between Kaori Miura and Shinichi Inoue. Inoue mentions that before he got recruited to Talent High School as the Ultimate Linguist, he'd been fairly well known as a prodigy in the area, resulting in family friends praising him and his parents dismissing the compliments. He personally understands why they did so, but is a bit uncomfortable at the idea that his parents have to lie for his sake and worry about what their friends think of them. Kaori posits that the people in question probably know his parents are just trying to be polite and thus go along with it.

* In ''MassEffect'', Shepard can joke about this with Tali at the conclusion of her quest line:

* An interesting variant in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E18BrushWithGreatness Brush With Greatness]] when Marge tells her art teacher [[Creator/JonLovitz Mr. Lombardo]] he's very supportive. He immediately says, "Marge, please, I don't take praise VERY WELL!" The irony is that he praises everything he sees.

* In ''Series/HoratioHornblower'', Archie Kennedy keeps dismissing compliments from his friend Horatio Hornblower. Archie is a sidekick to Horatio's [[TheHero Hero]] and often feels bitter, being overshadowed by his friend's amazing luck and heroic qualities.
** When they accidentally meet in Spanish prison in "The Duchess and the Devil", Archie is completely broken. Horatio insists that he needs him to survive, but Archie doesn't believe him.
** In "The Frogs and the Lobsters", Archie suffers a panic attack when he's in charge of holding a strategically important bridge. Horatio tries to deal him cope and insists that he's a capable officer. Archie thinks he has no place being an Acting Lieutenant and panic.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder Body Dismorphic Disorder]], a disorder that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin distorts one's self-image of their body]], often results in this. Basically, because the person so deeply believes they are ugly or unattractive, they also believe no one could ever see them as being the opposite and anyone who says so is simply saying it to be nice and spare their feelings instead of actually meaning it.