That is not very good advice for the described situation of randomly walking past someone you don’t know and trying to compliment them.
‘Hi’ is a greeting, not a compliment, and using it as a compliment in the described scenario would likely be even more awkward and intimidating than ‘You look nice…’
A greeting implies a response to that greeting and probably a conversation following that is expected.
So now, the girl/woman is going to either outright think, or subconsciously run through:
‘who is this person?’
‘do i know this person?’
‘why do they want to talk to me?’
‘what are their intentions?’
…in the span of a single word.
This is terrible advice for the described situation, far more likely to illicit fear and panic than what gandalf described his attempt at a compliment illiciting.
That is not very good advice for the described situation of randomly walking past someone you don’t know and trying to compliment them.
‘Hi’ is a greeting, not a compliment, and using it as a compliment in the described scenario would likely be even more awkward and intimidating than ‘You look nice…’
A greeting implies a response to that greeting and probably a conversation following that is expected.
So now, the girl/woman is going to either outright think, or subconsciously run through:
‘who is this person?’
‘do i know this person?’
‘why do they want to talk to me?’
‘what are their intentions?’
…in the span of a single word.
This is terrible advice for the described situation, far more likely to illicit fear and panic than what gandalf described his attempt at a compliment illiciting.
Ugh, you know what I mean, just like nod or something if it feels appropriate. It doesn’t have to be “hi” the form of “lets start a conversation.”