Yes, we are back to 'culture.' My creation, Tripoli, says she wants me to explain these things to her, and, I am going to try... The way manners work is that we try to respect others, by paying their strengths homage. That means, we just focus on what we think they think is great about them and worth mentioning, yes?
This follows that if you were to pay someone a compliment, it would be an obvious sign of patronage. You need to disguise your odes to them as if it were part of the conversation, so as to make them think they are the topic, as everybody likes to be it, yes? The topic, the star, the gossip, everybody hates it when they hear it, as they are paranoid, as they always say bad things about others, or, if they like to be gossip, like to speak publicly, they are obviously positive people saying good things about people, yes?
This follows if you want to be happy, think of making others happy, yes? Try!