Glazing, the Four Levels
Praise on a scale, not all or nothing
The trap is calling every compliment glazing. A clean praise is on target. Glazing is what happens when the praise keeps going after the thing it was describing. Here is the scale.
The Four Levels
- On target - the compliment lands on what it is describing. Not glazing, just a real read.
- Sliding - a little extra, the praise is starting to run ahead of the thing. The edge.
- Off the ledge - the compliment is doing its own thing now, no longer about the subject.
- Full glaze - past off, into the "I do not know what you are actually describing."
The One Telling
The tell that a line of praise has tipped into glazing is specificity. A real compliment names a thing - "that line is clean." Glaze is the compliment that has no thing behind it, just the shine. When the praise stops pointing, it is glazing.
Feel the Line
In the glazing meter a line of praise lands and you place it - on target, sliding, off the ledge, or full glaze. Read the sliding off from the off the ledge, and you have learned the whole word.