What do you mean?
One morning I happened to go to a cashier at the same time with a man. He let me go first because I “don’t work yet.” I told him that actually I was on my way to work. It wasn’t a shocker that he thought I was a school student, but the logic escapes me… Perhaps he thinks students are in more of a hurry? (So, I was in a hurry buying a microwave dinner to school; all Finnish schools serve free meals.)
On Thurday I “dressed up” — meaning I had a white shirt, necklace, and left my hair open. One of my co-workers said I looked like a 15-year-old (basically it just means young, not an exact age) and I should put a flower behind my ear. I told him I had rather hoped for the opposite effect of looking actually my age for once. He said “oh you’re still the age when you hope to look older? When do you think you’ll start wishing you look younger?” I said “probably when I do start looking my age.” He said “ah, you’ll never look your age.” A compliment or quite the opposite?
Yes, it is a compliment. Looking younger is always best. Only in the past 5 years have I started looking my age (or else they guess me at 2 years younger, big deal). I always used to look younger than my age.
I think the only problem with looking younger is that people don’t accredit you with any wisdom (or intelligence) because they think you’re too young to have any knowledge.
However, in your 30s and 40s, you’ll really appreciate the fact that you only look 20s and 30s, because once you get older, you seem to become invisible, where people don’t even look at you (aside from the glance that determined you were old).
Yesterday I did start thinking that even though now I’m really annoyed that I look much younger than I am, I probably will start appreciating it later in life. I sure hope so.
Minna, I was going to tell you that yes, it is a compliment, you’ll just need to wait until you think you do look your age, to realize it. But it seems you catch on much faster than that.