ahg, i use quite and very interchangeably. am i doing it wrong or is this one of those british english vs. american english things? according to dictionary.com, quite means "to the greatest extent" or "completely." at any rate, i expect the sender of that email was trying to say you're quite a bit more than a little less than pretty!

I second that. I use quite as a fancy form of very.

I suspect it is a cross-Atlantic communication breakdown.  We yanks use quite to mean very.  If someone said you were "quite hot", I would take that to mean you were very yummy indeed.

Quite to mean very??!!

Absolute bollocks!! I mean that's bullshit as opposed to "that's the dog's bollocks" which would mean: very good.

Similarly "you're quite pretty" means "I'll do you if we get pissed enough" not "Can we take things slow - I want to make this work" or even "Corrr!"    

Sorry to be contrary and difficult (but I often take "you're an asshole" as a compliment).

In the US, it most definitely means "very".  "The movie was quite entertaining" = "I enjoyed the movie quite a lot".

Depending on the dictionary you refer to the definition of "quite" accommodates all of the above."Quite" is an adverb the meaning of which is suggested by inflection, suggestion and modulation. So it can be used both to infer moderation and extremity. Being from the mothership and raised on a diet of sarcasm, irony and caustic put downs (starting with my parents at a young age) before the age of positive reinforcement - quite could never mean anything other than negative or in a negative context: "you're quite an piece of work". Oscar Wilde would never have used the word in any other context. Over here in the cheery United States especially in the latter part of the C20th to date, it seems to mean something else altogether. Which is news to me and my sarcastic friends here. For anyone who chooses the more happy face meaning, it's unfortunate that a word with such rich ambiguity and acerbic alliterative quality is wasted. Don't you think it's such a cutting sounding word, without poetry, that stops a sentence dead and render the adjective that follows almost redundant?...          

I'll chime in as another person who uses "quite" to mean very.  And who interprets "you're quite pretty" as meaning "you're more than just 'pretty'".

I'm sure I've gotten backhanded compliments... oh here's one: the really hot guy who was crushing on me and told me that androgynous women are more attractive than stereotypical model-types...

How about a shout out for the all-time classic:  "You don't sweat much for a fat girl"?

if i say 'you're quite pretty' to a lady there's usually emphasis on the quite and a slight pause after... because i mean it more as an understated 'you are a hottie'

so i'd understand if you might interpret differently over the internets, but in person, you'd have to be slow to miss the non-verbal part of that statement (you are a hottie)