So what has a tie to do with it?

Funny beer tie

Q. What did the necktie say to the hat?
A. You go on ahead, I'll just hang around.

Tie jokes abound. After all, a clean tie always attracts the soup. Or what else are ties for? It's for decoration, of course. Always been that way, according to The History of Ties. In short, a tie is meant to complement your clothes, which in turn compliments your outlook in life. Unless you're wearing a long face, in which case "your views may be as narrow as your tie," as Bernard Herrmann once said.

Thus, if you mean to pay a guy a compliment today, go ahead, tell him his tie looks nice.