不真心的好話
這一族就是核心畫面本身：話很甜，但說的人自己不信，而且通常有目的。
noun · B2
Praise that the speaker does not really mean, usually said to please someone or to get something from them.
奉承；恭維話
核心畫面
Picture someone handing over praise the way you hand over a coin: the words are pleasant, but they are being spent on something. You look wonderful, that was brilliant, nobody else could have done it — and then, a moment later, the request. The whole word lives in that gap between how sweet the words sound and why they were said. That is also why naming it is an act of seeing through it: calling something flattery tells your listener you did not buy it.
可以想成有人把好聽話像銅板一樣遞出來：話很甜，但它是要用來換東西的。你今天真好看、那件事你做得太棒了、換成別人一定做…更多收起
可以想成有人把好聽話像銅板一樣遞出來：話很甜，但它是要用來換東西的。你今天真好看、那件事你做得太棒了、換成別人一定做不到——然後過一下子，請求就來了。這個字整個活在「話有多甜」和「為什麼要說」之間的那個落差裡。也因為這樣，說出這個字本身就是一種看穿：你講 that was flattery，等於告訴聽的人「我沒有買單」。真心的稱讚不用這個字，那叫 praise 或 compliment。From the word’s history
From Middle English flaterye, from Old French flaterie, built on the verb flater 'to flatter' with the ending -y that makes abstract nouns. From the start the word named the practice of sweet-talking, not the praise itself.
來自中古英文 flaterye，再往前是古法文 flaterie，由動詞 flater（奉承）加上造抽象名詞的字尾 -y 組成。從一開始它指的就是「說好聽話的那套做法」，不是稱讚本身，所以它天生帶著不信任。
Wiktionary entry 'flattery': 'From Middle English flaterye, flaterie, from Old French flaterie, from the verb flater... By surface analysis, flatter + -y.' (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:886396188)
Two branches
被拍馬屁之後的固定回話
同一個畫面被接住了：有人遞出好話，這句話就是收下或退回的標準回應，語氣都是笑著的。
noun · B2
A joking reply to someone who has just praised you: with 'everywhere' you are saying you are pleased and will help them, and with 'nowhere' you are saying the praise will not win you over.
「這套對我有用／沒用」