Oh, you're so cute!

I'm thinking that for me there's no sexual component, I don't want to get off with the cute object, I just want to take it in, make it mine forever (cf also, "I could eat that kitten's head in ONE BITE" -- didn't someone write that eating something is the ultimate loving destruction? I forget). But then one of the wise ladies of a certain age said on another thread that she feels the key to her feminine sexuality is the knack of enticing things to cross her threshold willingly, rather than a desire to invade them so maybe there's a male/female divide here.

Discus.

Is this where I've been going wrong?

No, this seems like such a narrow view of feminine sexuality. but maybe that's what you're getting at - that this is the *cute* stereotype, as opposed to the hott one.

She's on tv therefore she must be attractive/her attractiveness has been tacitly approved therefore I find her (random appealing but nonsexual qualities) attractive? That doesn't necessarily seem like you, John, but it's the only chain of reasoning that comes to mind.

i was searching for pictures of Iraq carnage and stumbled upon the cutest lil' soldier you ever did see. awww, she couldn't hurt nobody. i'll bet bubble gum comes out of her rifle:
Have you seen the "OMG HOT ISRAELI SOLDIERESS" blogs?

No you are very wrong! George-ous is also acceptable.

I am neither cute nor hott I am more: I am kv_nol, hear me roar!

http://myspace-901.vo.llnwd.net/01424/10/95/1424025901_l.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e356/SLiTHERGrant/Halloween.jpg

(runs her own myspace, she does)

I do, however, use "hot," when not referring to a specific person, to mean "sexy" or "something I find personally attractive" -- as in "nipple rings are hot" or "submission is hot" (please not to read too much into these examples!!).

How do you fellows & guys feel about being called "pretty"?
I have never been called pretty (because I'm not - I should improve my skin moisturizing regime).

Possible breakdown:
Cute coming from girl about guy: death-knell of potential sex.
Cute coming from guy about girl: I'd totally hit it.
Pretty from girl about guy: sure he's not gay?
Pretty coming from guy about girl: she's OK, but I wouldn't really hit it.
Hot from girl about guy: I'd hit it
Hot from guy about girl: I'd hit it AND/OR I have no chance of hitting it

the FIRST one was TOTALLY hot, the second one, not so much. fwiw.

I would totally get up at 8 AM to take this class.

Two different actresses played the same character, I believe.

cute but not hot : Tab Hunter
hot but not cute : Daniel Craig

I suspect that for gay men it's an age thing, but it's also a self-consciousness thing. Cute people tend to radiate a kind of innocence, an "aw shucks" ignorance, whereas hot people tend to have a look in their eye that says "I know what I want". So . . . can we come up with examples of the elusive male who is both hot and cute? the only example i can think of off the top of my head is Joe Dallesandro circa the Paul Morrissey films like Heat and Trash. He's totally young enough to rock "cute", but because he's a hustler who has seen it all he's also fully self-conscious about his hotness, i.e. he knows the effect he has on others and manipulates them accordingly. Hotness in men has something to do with being able to size up situations and take control of them (hustlers need that skill).

I don't know, I've heard plenty of girls call guys "cute" in that slightly derogatory/demeaning way, especially with regard to short/non-threatening guys. "Oh, he's so cute!"

In my own lexicon, "cute" is a nice middle ground between hot/sexy and beautiful/pretty. It means "there's something about her that I find compelling". And maybe it implies an acknowledgement that the person might not be mainstream-attractive, that there's something offbeat about their looks, but that it works for me. (Maybe even: that I can imagine this person and me as a couple, that we'd make sense together, visually speaking.)

"Pretty" and "beautiful" are more remote and feel more "objective" (to use Jaymc's word), like it's relative to conventional/mainstream standards of beauty. "Beautiful" especially implies some kind of sublime experience to me, like the perfection or visual rightness of this person is amazing and moving to you. "Attractive" is a little generic and usually doesn't imply much investment. "Hot" means that looking at the person makes me actively and viscerally want them sexually.

A person can of course be all of these things at different times, and in different worlds (the public world vs. the private world you share with them).

xpost For me there's def. an association between "cute" and young/youthfulness. I suspect for most people that's true, really.

cute and handsome but not hot: Elijah Wood
hot and handsome but not cute: Viggo Mortensen
cute and hot but not handsome: Dominic Monaghan
handsome but not hot or cute: David Wenham
hot but not handsome or cute: Sean Bean
cute but not hot or handsome: Sean Astin
cute, handsome, AND hot: Ornaldo Bloomps