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"I cannot recommend X too highly. X always served as an example to their colleagues. The quality of X's code was unequalled in our department, and X's work always merited special attention." (etc)


> I cannot recommend X too highly

This isn't a veiled statement. It's outright dunking on the applicant.


It can be interpreted both ways: "I cannot recommend X too highly (because they suck)" vs "I cannot recommend X too highly (because whatever praise I give will be inadequate)"


If praise is the intent, it would be phrased as "... cannot recommend X highly enough"


I disagree.


Not every opinion is equally valid


My take away from this is that any positive thing written in a letter of recommendation can be read as sarcasm by an English speaker.

I think there's some deeper issue with the language/culture here.


Every language has turns of phrase that are not necessarily intuitive to non-native speakers.




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