What is "Cute?"

[Widdershins 9,959]

    Think this may be a question that is especially suitable to ask the MLP fandom.

   I've heard the word used in many aspects. What one being may view as adorable may be but a slavering beast to another. I think some reptiles & octopi are rather cute, and I know that can be frightening to others. A good example of that conundrum there is that the company Blizzard that makes the game Warcraft adopted their race of frogmen as a sort of poster child for their products. I like them myself, but any sane mind would hesitate to describe those gap-mouthed mutants as "Cute." Yet, somehow they clearly do sell!

 

  So too, I have often heard the word cute defined as attractive. Like teenage girls getting together to talk about "Cute Boys." If we're to take the same meaning as cute characters, like say, Pinkie Pie where the intention is to instill a sense of  wanting to take care of them, how does that same word also come to mean some guy you want to bo-...date. *cough*

  Though one getting their wires crossed like that may also explain a ways as to why we tend to sexualize cartoon characters. Huh, inadvertent secondary discussion topic there!

 

  What is Cute supposed to mean?

 

  We can say a grown, mature woman is beautiful, where as when she was younger child she was cute. Switch those ages around and those same words come to mean different things while still applying to her physical appearance. Beauty, Cuteness & physical attractiveness all mean different things, yet somehow all refer to the same aspects!

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

Cuteness is related to attractiveness as well as general appeal.

 

Darth Vader is appealing as a villain but he's not very attractive. His appeal comes from how interesting he is.

 

A cat on a horse is also appealing but not very attractive. The appeal arises from our interest in shapes, textures and behaviors that we prefer. Soft fuzzy fur, large colorful eyes and playful demeanors are all things which contribute to appeal.

 

This all said, I don't know about other people but I find it aggravating when cuteness is made to interrelate with sexual appeal, which I separate in my mind.

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

It's sometimes a perspective of vulnerability and lacking self-awareness. Often related with personal insecurities, and fear.

 

"Cute" is up to personal interpretation, despite overall agreement. And as a perception of the self, it somehow reflects one's psychology.

.

[Lunar Echo 10,335]

I honestly label things I find cute to be appealing to the soul, it comes from deep within for me. When I am attracted to somebody or something, I generally say it's hot. Something I would find cute, could be weird or disturbing to someone else, like how I find sea creatures in the distant murky water disturbing. Some people actually take offence to being called cute as well, I don't understand it myself but I'm sure the speaker had no intentions of being bad in what they said.  

[Widdershins 9,959]

    Aye, like take for example the fact that I find Octupi cute. I'm not going to stop you or anything from beating one to death with a shoe since I know full well that which I find cute can very will invoke terror in another.

    Think that's what bugs me the most about it. A good portion of the reason we use words in the first place is to transfer the same meaning over to another. If we don't have things set down to a specific meaning, then we run the risk of confusion, don't we? Especially in means of evaluating attractiveness or physical characteristics. Take, for example, your chatting with somebody you've only recently met after high school or what have you. They off-handidly call you cute when they interpret that as meaning "friendly" but your mind jump to taking that as a cue for "I wanna date you."

 

   And no, that's just an example. As a brony forumer I think its quite clear I've never dated. Ah-hah-hee!

[The_Gobo 36,257]

Y'all mutha cluckahs need some science.

[Widdershins 9,959]

 Curse thou Vsauce & your being one step ahead of my pretentious perponderences!!

  

    Though there still is the line of where cuteness becomes something else for someone else. Like those animatronics from FNAF. Or how porcelain dolls were clearly intended for cuteness but it makes some people terrified of them.

[The_Gobo 36,257]

That much I couldn't answer, as that delves into the more subjective field of cuteness.
Which is something my brain fails to understand.

Mainly because I tend to focus more on the emotional, and I understand cuteness to be more psychological, or even physical in nature.

[ChikaChan 7,323]

to me cuteness is something small or having a cute face x3

[Lil Pip 775]

They say seeing cute things triggers a decrease in fight or flight response long term, probably to better care for pets and children.

[The_Gobo 36,257]

They say seeing cute things triggers a decrease in fight or flight response long term, probably to better care for pets and children.

Who says these things?

And where/how did they research it? O_o

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,006]

I have got the answer to cuteness eternal, the meaning of what it stands for, what it represents in our ever changing world.

 

The meaning of cuteness is...............................................................................................................................................................................................................LEMONS.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Rarity the Supreme

[The_Gobo 36,257]

I have got the answer to cuteness eternal, the meaning of what it stands for, what it represents in our ever changing world.

 

The meaning of cuteness is...............................................................................................................................................................................................................LEMONS.

No no no, that can't be it.

Cause it's melons.

 

[Lil Pip 775]

Who says these things?

And where/how did they research it? O_o

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210614/The-power-cute-How-looking-pictures-baby-animals-help-improve-concentration-levels.html

But for some people apparently its different lol

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cuteness-inspires-aggression/ 

[The_Gobo 36,257]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210614/The-power-cute-How-looking-pictures-baby-animals-help-improve-concentration-levels.html

But for some people apparently its different lol

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cuteness-inspires-aggression/ 

OH, well then o3o

I shall have to give this a read XD

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

I don't think you can completely define cute since the very nature of it is so subjective. There are a ton of things a vast majority label as cute from babies to ponies to baby ponies... and yet there is always that group that will poo-poo all over that and try to gag up their dinner at the thought of it.

 

Vsauce does a great job explaining the science behind it, but it somewhat falls apart for certain groups of people who not only do NOT find babies cute, but are actually repelled by them. The large magority of people are repelled by insects, but there are plenty of people who find them adorable (and will still ooh and aah at puppies and chipmunks).

 

That being said, yeah octopi are pretty damn cute. Of course I find a lot of weird stuff cute so ehh...

[chili 120]

I can't define what I think is cute..

I think big dogs with pointy ears and a long face is cute. I think snakes are cute, I think a sleeping adult person is cute.. I mean, sleeping people are usually really cute????? I don't know WHY and I cannot define why I think it's cute, it just is. It's probably one of the most harmless states a human can be in and it breaks my heart to wake a sleeping person up, hahah, I don't know why! Mostly if I know the person though.. It's not exactly like I see a person sleeping on the bus and I'm like "AAAWWW". But yeah.. 

I find flies to be cute, I find plants to be cute.. But I also find kitties and puppies to be cute, of course.

 

So the scientific assumption to what is cute, doesn't work out for me. XD Like, most of the time not at all. I don't believe in science!

Edited January 16, 2017 by chili

[Johnny1226 14,674]

Cute things are something you feel comfortable around often either attracted to or simply think of as adorable or both depending on the point of view of the individual except in all instances the cute things are seen as harmless to the person and so are easy to get close to

[Strumboldt 22]

I guess that difference between people's preferences on cuteness work similarly to other types of attraction; it's just subjective, preferences that are born with the person. Not sure though.
: |

[Lisa 5,553]

Cute means something poses no harm. The reason we find kittens and puppies cute, is because our bodies are telling us, "That thing can't kill me." It's a natural sensation we experience when judging the hostility/lethality of other creatures. We find other humans cute in the same way. The reason we want to date a cute person is because we feel safe around them; they pose no harm. Also, cuteness is synonymous with attractiveness because of this. We want to feel safe with our partners.

[Widdershins 9,959]

@,   Well, that would explain its objectiveness. If you've never had a bad run in with a snake before, you're more libel to consider them more harmless. Though there is the way we seem to be able to measure it enough to rate specific examples against each other.  I suppose there is the whole big eyes & big heads theory, just how far each are willing to take that interpretation.

   Octupi are basically nothing but big heads & big eyes! But you don't see those as regular housepets!

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,006]

No no no, that can't be it.

Cause it's melons.

 

Wait..........are you in a rival cult or something?

[The_Gobo 36,257]

Wait..........are you in a rival cult or something?

N....no?

Vannamelon didn't send me.

<__<

You can't prove anything.

[Mast. Equestos/Gigas 340]

I never use that word to describe things in life. I just use the word handsome for men and beautiful for women in respect.

 

 

                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

[DubWolf 17,240]

Something or someone you want to cuddle with :-p .