Beautiful / sexy / attractive / pretty / handsome...

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Which are you, if any? Which is best? What's the difference? Are they a linear rankign system with some worth more than others or they do they mean disfferent and distinct things as terms? When do you use them?

Today is ludicrous solipsism ego day on ILX!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:25 (twenty-two years ago)

What about 'good looking' and 'attractive'?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

'Attractive' is in there, N., but feel free to insert 'good looking' too.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Oops.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:29 (twenty-two years ago)

'Sexy'. N. is 'beautiful'.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:30 (twenty-two years ago)

pretty>sexy>attractive>beautiful>handsome

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Attractive at best, in that I'm obviously not entirely repulsive, but I'd be hard pressed to define myself as any of the others.

"Attractive" and "sexy" are the only ones that really go further than surface looks.

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I get all of them semi-regularly except 'sexy'. This bothers me more than it should do.

Gareth is way off the mark - I think 'beautiful' is the most complementary of the lot of them and reckon it does go deeper than surface looks.

Being called 'handsome' is rubbish. Everyone's mum says they are handsome.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, i was ranking them, i didnt realise we had to them for ourselves. in that case, i guess i am fascist

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:35 (twenty-two years ago)

They are all different, anyway, yes.

Though 'good looking' is perhaps the same as 'handsome' only less gender-specific.

'Beautiful' is the slipperiest one. On the one hand, I might say that, say, Naomi Campbell is beautiful but not attractive or sexy, because I don't really fancy her and the latter two terms seem more subjective. But I might also say that people who I find most attractive are also the most beautiful I have ever seen, even though I know that in a worldwide poll they wouldn't win.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"not repulsive" or perhaps "acceptable"

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

What do either of Gareth's posts mean?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)

N. has the same definition of the word "beautiful" as I do, that's quite strange.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I would prefer to be called beautiful rather than any of the others. that said, i do get a little buzz from being called sexy.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Beautiful: Implies a certain ethereal quality when talking about a whole person, people who "walk with [their] own personal cinematographer".

Sexy: More earthy, more tactile, quirkier, va va voom and x-factor, springing up from a glint in the eye or a shake of the hips.

Attractive: "What is it about so-and-so I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's there."

Pretty: A submissive description, quite juvenille and/or naieve.

Handsome: Used to express grudging admiration for the kind of man your grandmother would fancy/ a strapping young woman. (It's a shame about handsome, it's not a bad word, it just suffers from being old fashioned.)

Good looking: Something you can see in an objective way, but aren't necessarily drawn to.

I'd like to think people who fancy me would place me somewhere between sexy and attractive, but I fear they may think pretty.

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

'Pretty' is gender-specific, isn't it? The only time I ever hear it used in relation to blokes is when people are talking about 'pretty boys' which kind of implies some sort of femininity.

Likewise, I'm not sure anyone talks about women as being handsome - unless they are big fat Yorkshire barmen going "aye, she's a handsome young lass, in't she?", which I don't believe gets said very often.

Both also feel slightly damning-with-faint-praise if used by the wrong person. I'm not sure why.

You can be find someone both ugly and sexy at the same time, which seems to differentiate it from the others. 'Attractive' seems like the general umbrella term.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Anna, what if someone is.... beautiful in a non-ethereal way and you don't want to make it clear that you're not personally drawn to them?

ps. you are pretty.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been called beautiful, but not because of my looks.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been called good-looking and sexy.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, I guess in your scheme 'good looking' does cover that (with the 'not necessarily' bit).

I think 'good looking' is also slightly gender biased towards men.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I am none of these things, but I have an enormous cock.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, beautiful and pretty are the only ones that are regularly used to describe non-human subjects.

Where am I going with this?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Is it a pretty cock?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Not really.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:55 (twenty-two years ago)

My dick's been called 'goodlooking'

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

There was an episode of NewsRadio which answered this question quite accurately.

beautiful = pretty + tall
cute = pretty + hyperactive
gorgeous = pretty + great hair
sexy = pretty + easy

and several others.

And I'm dreamy, btw.

― Maxwell von Bismarck (maxwell von bismarck), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

No mention of 'cute' so far, which I'd rank as the nicest/best/top - a combination of some of the above.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

·?$k you and, um, bah at the same time I think.

I think I'd probably say classicly beautiful, to indicate it was some sort of global standard of beauty.

Matt - that's what I meant about pretty, you have 'pretty boys' or 'pretty little things'. Oh and I hate 'cute' as well. (End short girl's lament)

― Anna (Anna), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know, cute can be nice, but also patronising.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

but cute is good!

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

No, cute is the worst. It's like saying the person is not attractive, but they are sort of twee and adorable and harmless like a kitten.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

sexy = pretty + easy

This is so much rubbish, but then I like ice maiden bitches.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but I think small puppies are cute, it doesn't mean I want to have sex with them.

I find 'cute' patronising and flattering in almost equal measure.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

It's like saying the person is not attractive, but they are sort of twee and adorable and harmless like a kitten.

Or that they are attractive, and sort of twee and adorable and harmless like a kitten.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I am not someone who can be described successfully as cute most of the time, I believe.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Cute does not work for me, either. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/staff/photos/nick_southall.jpg

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

"Sexy" is too arbitrary to mean anything.

"Pretty" is just a step above the uber-patronising "cute" -- not really beautiful or desirable in any way, but the person does not look like a gargoyle.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

My first girlfriend described me as 'cute' and I remember an amusing discussion with mutual friends about whether girls actually fancied boys they described as 'cute'. Or maybe it was 'sweet'.

Anyway, I totally fancy girls I would describe as 'cute', but not that seriously. I don't think I'd marry a 'cute' girl. But maybe. We'll see.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.viceland.com/issues/v10n4/htdocs/dos_donts/images/Untitled-8_2_03.jpg

"She’s so cute she’s drifting into the Ronald McDonald zone a little bit—but not. You have to watch it with “cute,” because it’s not really “sexy” unless it gets down to little white socks and a tight T-shirt, at which point it actually overtakes its “sexy” counterpart of high-heels and lingerie. Cute is a commitment to go right to the end."

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick and Ally are dangerous! Look out!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

That girl is not attractive to me at all.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Nor me.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Nick and Ally are dangerous!

We just shot our load on yr best party frock...before you enter the palace of wisdom, you have to decide, are you ready to rock?

That reminds me, why is there not category for "hot"? Jarvis, for example.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

not really beautiful or desirable in any way, but the person does not look like a gargoyle.

Is this honestly what you think "pretty" means? I think you may be mistaken.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:07 (twenty-two years ago)

That girl is not attractive to me at all.

nor me, but they´re otm about the socks and t-shirt thing

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

There's something about 'pretty' that implies something utterly unthreatening. You cannot be a pretty ice maiden bitch, for example.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

i normally get called "bastard" more often than any of the above, though i would be most concerned if anyone thought me pretty. the rest aren't too bad, though... if ever referred to as any of these things, i generally tend to find it weird, coz i quite honestly rarely think about my appearance (apart from shoes) at all...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Ballerinas are pretty.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Tight t-shirt and panties is not the antithesis of traditional sexy (c.f. the entirety of the Victoria's Secret catalog save the four pages of completely retarded "Italian lingerie", which all look like torture devices)

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

out of all of the aforementioned descriptors, i have only ever been called ´pretty´, and i´m quite certain it preceded ´boy´

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 174 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Are you saying luna isn't fuckable? Cos she is, totally.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Hear hear!

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:29 (twenty-two years ago)

see, as a girl, you can say things like this

we usually say ´cute´

but in the end they usually mean the same thing

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

haha - I knew, steve, don't worry.

(And awww, you guys...)

― luna (luna.c), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Kenan's overegging his pudding, I think, but cute often fulfils a normalising role. Calling a female (friend, lover, sister, doesn't matter) beautiful is more often than not going to sound any out of creepy, arse-licky, uninterested, embarrassing. "Cute" is a much more general term, doesn't necessarily have superlative or sexual connotations, and is used freely by both genders.

I feel uncomfortable with people who imbue words with (negative) significances beyond what they deserve, *even if* they can sometimes be said negatively or condescendingly. Surely it's more important to try and understand what someone means by a word or phrase they use, rather than relying on your own knee-jerk reactions?

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

xposts: I think "beautiful", because of the "eye of the beholder" thing is a more personal/subjective compliment. It isn't something that you could bring in a friend to offer a second opinion on.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

So when I say someone is cute or pretty, I'm belittling them? This is some real hardcore third-wave feminist bullshit

It's not about feminism, it's about the fact that Nicole finds those to be nondescriptive, noncommittal words.

I call my boyfriend cute all the damned time because he's fucking adorable (to me I use that word as a sort of ubercombo of incredibly funny/v. sweet/totally hot) but I can see where Nicole is coming from. Sometimes I bust out with the "cute" thing and then I'm like, "Yeah, right, use other words please, sorry".

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Kenan's overegging his pudding

HA! You just defined me in total.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm awkward and lanky.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

You're totally adorable though!

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah as Ally said, it's not about feminism at all. It's just that they're both kind of dull terms. It wouldn't offend me to be called pretty or cute, but I wouldn't feel very flattered either. I don't care for compliments in general though.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

What if someone called you "the bee's knees"?

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:39 (twenty-two years ago)

bee's knees > dog's bollocks

so no-one here finds the term 'fuckable' negative?

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, it's not any way to talk about your mother.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Mmmm.... Stevem's mother.... (drool)

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, if you want to be technical about it, just about anything is "fuckable," so it's kind of meaningless.

― NA (Nick A.), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

kenan's mum is the wasp's nipples

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Fuckable is just dumb, for the reasons Nick mentioned.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:43 (twenty-two years ago)

the wasp's nipples

the grasshopper's toenails

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I find Larcole quite typable. Respondable, even.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

I´d read her til my eyes hurt.

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

all of the words above are good and if anyone calls you them you should be happy - better than saying yr an ugly old rotter...

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Everyday is so wonderful, then suddenly, it's hard to breathe
Now and then I get insecure, from all the fame
I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes words can't bring me down, Oh no
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness, the pieces gone,
Left the puzzle undone, ain't that the way it is?

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down, no, no
Cause you are beautiful in every single way
Yes words can't bring you down. Oh, no
So don't you bring me down today

No matter what we do, (No matter what we do)
No matter what we say, (No matter what we say)
We're the song inside the tune, (yeah) full of beautiful mistakes (oh yeah)
And everywhere we go, (And everywhere we go)
The sun will always shine
(The sun will Always, Always, Shine)
And tomorrow we might awake on the other side

'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes words won't bring us down, no
We are beautiful in every single way
Yes words can't bring us down, oh , no
So don't you bring me down today

Mm, yeah, don't you bring me down today
Yeah, yeah, ooh,
Don't you bring me down, ooh, today

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

good point about fuckable - i was just throwing it out there. sometimes its a sexy thing to say no? maybe 'shaggable' is better? oh wait, then you'd be Austin Powers - ack

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

mark c i hope you realise you are actually drooling over a dead wolf

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Fuxorable!

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

good one jel, that's like adorable but also sexy (Jewel to thread, yay)

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Out of all of these I think fuxorable is the only one I like.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 16:48 (twenty-two years ago)

'Cute' and 'pretty' = the only terms I use to describe girls = I fancy these kinds of girls - though you wouldn't necessarily deem them 'cute' or 'pretty'.

― David. (Cozen), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

what about "i wanna up all in their grill"?

that can be used in polite company, right?

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 17:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Only if you're George Foreman.

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

grill = face right? but whyy?

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

car?

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

not quite.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

cute is ambiguous. I've got "sexy" more than any of the others, I think it's usually been with the addendum that it was what I said or my intellect that did it.

I think what the girls in question meant was they wanted to go out with me cos they thought I was smart. depressing.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry, it's such an arrogant thing to complain about but it made me feel like a political movie or def jux compilation.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:17 (twenty-two years ago)

but def jux is bangin' son!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Perhaps Ronan wants to be bangin' daughter.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmmmm.

So in order to participate in this thread you would have had to have been called either beautiful, sexy, attractive, pretty, or handsome?

Hmmmm.

Well, apparently my smile has been given the "pretty" seal of approval by Ms. Ally herself, so that kinda counts, right? The most complimentary my mom's gotten IRL has been when she's said I looked nice in an outfit. Nice. Nice is, well, nice, when you're talking about a personality, but nice is bleh when you're talking about physical appearance.

Aside from this, though -- nada, nothing. Nary a thing. Hopefully with the ILX Self-Improvement Guide (as authored by a few denizens of this forum) this will change, though.

― Jane Datsun (Dee the Lurker), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

You do have a very pretty smile. It's very genuine.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

You do have a very pretty smile. It's very genuine.

Thank you hon. This compliment is truly appreciated, absolutely. And if/when that Someone Special, whoever he is, says that to me, I will smile and think of the first person ever to point this out and thank God once again great and complimentary people such as you exist.

― Jane Datsun (Dee the Lurker), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 19:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I've ever heard anyone call me pretty, but extraordinarily I have had the other four applied to me. All wrong.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't listen to your mom Dee, seriously. She's not the arbieter of your attractiveness.

― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Dee, you remind me of one of my high school girlfriends (aka the one I wanted to marry when I was 18).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Dee, you look a lot like my sister, who I also think is lovely. You should not let a lack of compliments or praise at home affect your self-worth (though this is *way* easier said than done, as I know from personal experience).

― Larcole (Nicole), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Stevem, surely a jackal?

I'm looking quite gay today.

― Mark C (Mark C), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 11:44 (twenty-two years ago)

yeh that was me on the Black Grape album cover all along

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 11:54 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

I get 'cute' a LOT.
-- luna (luna.c), Tuesday, August 19, 2003 8:24 AM (4 years ago)

how about 'fuckable'?
-- stevem (blueski), Tuesday, August 19, 2003 8:24 AM (4 years ago)

that last question was not directed just to luna i should add!
-- stevem (blueski), Tuesday, August 19, 2003 8:25 AM (4 years ago)

Are you saying luna isn't fuckable? Cos she is, totally.
-- Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, August 19, 2003 8:29 AM

― gershy, Saturday, 10 November 2007 07:12 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

don't tell my girlfriend, but the author of this style blog is like the prettiest ever:

http://lisaslikes.blogspot.com/

― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, 16 February 2010 01:37 (sixteen years ago)

i should start a blog with just pictures of me frolicking in the sunshine

― amuse-douche (s1ocki), Tuesday, 16 February 2010 02:44 (sixteen years ago)

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