Thing To Do Today: commend someone/something.

To commend someone is, I realise, a deeply unfashionable idea*.

It presumably follows, then, that there are serious downsides to commending people, or else it would be more popular.

Let's see.

Commending people would certainly cause a lot of happiness. 

No downside there as far as I can see.

It would also encourage experimentation and creativity.

That's mostly good, as long as the person commended doesn't decide to cook you a meal involving liver and apricot jam. On the same plate.

Commending people would create friendships throughout the world.

I can't see much wrong with that, either. Well, as long as they don't all want loans at the same time.

So where's this downside?

I think the fear generally is that encouraging people will do damage to the commender's own status.

But we all know what people who are obsessively worried about their own status are called, don't we.

Yes, that's right. 

Bernard.*

Thing To Do Today: commend someone/something. Extra points if he is called Bernard. The word commend comes from the Latin commendāre, to commit to someone's care, from mandāre, to entrust.

*Unless they're at school and under the age of about ten.

**Sorry, silly joke. I'm sure that nearly all Bernards are both generous and kind. Do feel free to enter your own adjective in its place.