flattered above all the recognition

[keannu]

Mel is praising him for his ability to find vietnamese veterans' records, and after he felt flattered, he said like this. I've heard flattered a lot, but is flattered above all the recognition "extremely flattered"?

g.w
[FONT=&#44404] Mel- Cause if anyone would know, you would.
VWF manager- I'm[/FONT][FONT=&#44404] flattered above all the recognition.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404] [/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404] [/FONT]

 

[5jj]

Mel is praising him for his ability to find vietnamese veterans' records, and after he felt flattered, he said like this. I've heard flattered a lot, but is flattered above all the recognition "extremely flattered"?

g.w
[FONT=&#44404] Mel- Cause if anyone would know, you would.
VWF manager- I'm[/FONT][FONT=&#44404] flattered above all the recognition.[/FONT]

Yes but the expression is normally 'beyond all recognition'. 'Above all the recognition' sounds very un-English to me.

In any case, I would not use even the normal expression with 'flattery'; it is normally used with something that you can recognise with one of the senses, usually sight:

The centre of Prague has changed beyond all recognition since I first saw it thirty years ago.

We cannot normally recognise how flattered somebody is.

 

[BobK]

Given that the context is military, the errant 'above' may come from the stock phrase 'above and beyond the call of duty'. It's as if some prescriptivist had decreed 'Don't say 'above and beyond'; what you mean is just 'above'.

b

 

[keannu]

Yes but the expression is normally 'beyond all recognition'. ,Above all the recognition, sounds very un-English to me.

In any case, I would not use even the normal expression with 'flattery'; it is normally used with something that you can recognise with one of the senses, usually sight:

The centre of Prague has changed beyond all recognition since I first saw it thirty yars ago.

We cannot normally recognise how flattered somebody is.

What's he trying to say by "beyond all recognition"? He is extremly flattered? Then what's the meaning of recognition here? acknowledgement or awareness? I think it's acknowledgement.

 

[5jj]

As I have suggested above, I think that the expression is used inappropriately with 'flattered'. As we have already suggested, the writer seems to mean 'extremely flatterered'.

The VWF manager's words in your first post are not natural English, so it is futile to try to work out exactly what he meant.