Cute as a Button

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Well, good afternoon. This is Paula from Palm City, Florida.

Hello, Paula. Welcome.

Hi, Paula. How are you doing?

I’m very well today, and how are you?

Super duper.

What can we do for you?

Well, I’ll tell you, I have a phrase that I was wondering the origin, and it’s called cute as a button. And I’ll tell you how it comes up in our life.

Okay.

I don’t ever have to fish for compliments from my husband. He’s very good about saying, do you look nice? Is that something new? I don’t think I’ve seen that before.

But when I’ve gotten ready to go out someplace and I’m feeling particularly playful, I’ll pop out of the bedroom, bathroom area, strike a pose, and say, gee, don’t I look cute as a button?

Oh, la, la.

Which makes us both laugh. And part of the thing is that I imagine being cute as a button somewhat involves being maybe in your teens or your 20s. So I’d have to be a little more mature button than that.

But it does make us laugh and just wondered what would be the origin of that.

That’s great.

That is really good.

Cute, as in cute and a button, comes from the word acute. And it represents, what is that, a small angle, right?

Yeah, acute is sharp or small.

Sharp or small.

Yeah.

And so by extension, cute came to mean small or dainty. Dainty is probably really the best word for this.

Although today we think of cute as mainly being attractive in kind of a non-beautiful way, if that makes sense.

Yeah, but the button part has to do with being small and tiny.

Does he ever call you cute as a bug? Or a bug’s ear? Or cute as a bug’s ear? That’s really tiny.

I’ve heard that phrase. I’ve heard that phrase before.

So in all these cases, we’re talking about something small that’s finely crafted or is very delicate. Buttons used to be made by hand, by the way.

And even the machine main buttons are still very simple devices that have little grooves and ridges and sometimes designs and stuff.

But, Paula, you bring up an interesting point.

You think that cute as a button is more applicable if somebody is young.

You know, it strikes me as such.

And I was trying to think why I had that impression.

I’ve always thought it was a compliment if someone said you’re cute as a button.

But somehow or other, that doesn’t seem to be a phrase that I would apply to someone who had maybe moved beyond their 20s.

And I don’t know why I have that bias.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, Helen Maron is hot.

She’s not cute as a button.

Well, that’s right, yeah.

Oh, very interesting.

You know, it reminds me, I don’t know who wrote it, but there was a tweet I saw just the other day.

Somebody said, I’m trying to figure out how to put down my female friend.

Shall I call her cute or shall I call her adorable?

And it’s this idea that cute and adorable are somehow less than, I don’t know, beautiful or attractive.

All right.

But it is a compliment.

Yes.

Definitely a compliment.

And it sounds like you deserve it.

And it sounds like your husband deserves lots of compliments as well.

Well, he really is very good about noticing things like that.

And, of course, he says, having been on your show previously and used a phrase,

He said that I would find it easier to have cute as a button as I see it in a mirror as opposed to seeing it out the window.

So he said, I call myself cute as a button.

But yes, he does deserve credit for being observant and noticing those things.

Oh, that’s great.

That’s great.

Well, we appreciate your calling.

Well, thank you so much, and I hope you have a wonderful day.

Okay.

Thanks, Paula.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye.

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