Over the centuries, western cultures have developed dozens of swear words, insults and curse words that are intended to trigger acute negative affect in the recipient. If one particular word does not work, the insulter would typically cycle through the words until he/she finds the one that "strikes a chord" and causes the intended level of emotional distress.

What interests me is that the right insult quickly triggers emotional pain. Unless a person knows how to mitigate the effect, the negative emotion is likely to stay with the person for minutes to hours.

This makes me ask - **What are there opposite of insults for the purposes of triggering positive emotion that lingers on afterwards?** 

Is there some kind of word or action that instantly triggers positive emotions of equal magnitude? Terms like praise come to mind, but I'm not sure praise is as powerful as insults.