Making an observation of how plain and bossy somebody is
isn't the same thing as trying to
boss them around, give them orders, or tell them falsehoods about what they're like. Telling somebody that isn't as colorful as they seem to think or pretend they are that they're plain is calling a spade a spade instead of a pickaxe. Perhaps the other person hearing it just doesn't like to hear criticism because they were spared (the
rod) from hearing anything that didn't
sound good as
kids, and they expect to be praised rather than criticized, even if the criticism is not really unfair to them.