You compliment someone and he /she reacts as if it were an insult. Words mean different things to different people. 180 degrees different?

Well this morning someone whose spouse I had complimented responded by asking if I really meant something else(which he stated which would have been an insult) and if it were a "lefthanded" compliment! I was stunned. There was no insult anywhere there. If I said to you "your wife/daughter/sister is very talented and very intelligent". What insult could YOU read into that? I mean seriously. Try really hard. So I just figure with some people it makes no difference what you actually say because they will always take it the wrong way. Because that's what they want to do maybe. Why I don't know.  SIGH. Thank you for your reply bh.