trade-last

English

Noun

trade-last (plural trade-lasts)

1. (US) A compliment heard about another person, offered to be repeated to that person in exchange for another repeated compliment about the speaker.

   Synonym: (initialism) TL

   • 1979, Robert Kirk Mueller, Board Compass, page 102:

     American adolescents regularly deal in "trade-lasts," compliments in exchange for another. They will tell you something flattering about yourself after you tell them a flattering remark you have heard about them.

   • 1997, Joan Mellen, Hellman and Hammett, page 71:

     So autobiographical was The Children's Hour that there are even “TL's” between the children, those “trade lasts” in which people must come up with compliments they have heard about each other, a game which amused Lily […]