wild7 wrote:
I recently had an interaction with my daughters family where I met her aunts boyfriend for the first time. He's a rather rough looking country fellow that i would never normally interact with by choice. He was however wearing a shirt that I had a fondness for which I expressed to him by saying "That's a really cool shirt, I dislike you less now". Her family has been ranting about how horrible a thing that is to say and I can't wrap my head around being honest, especially to convey a growing fondness, could be bad.
Around here, such a statement, if made without obvious hostility, would probably be taken as humour. Perhaps it varies by culture.
It could be that your daughter's family doesn't like you for some reason, and found this a convenient "wrong" to pounce upon, rather than really being that offended by the actual event.