Cute / Hot / Beautiful dilemma

[Joseph_Bilodeau]

Instead of “hot” or “stunning”, say “pulchritudinous”. No one can object to that. Most probably won’t understand it.

 

[bapcathluth]

“Hot” is definitely slang from the younger generation. I’m in my forties and would never use the word “hot.” I heard my third-grader use it and almost fell over. He doesn’t understand the connotation since he doesn’t even know about sex yet, but he knows it means attractive.

I don’t like the word, but I think for the younger generation that it can mean generically good-looking. We used to say “hunk” to mean the same thing. I believe “hunk” had the connotation of a piece of meat–which isn’t much better. When we said it, we meant “handsome.” But handsome always sounded very uptight and old-fashioned.

I guess each generation will have their own slang and it doesn’t mean the end of the world!!!

 

[Lisa4Catholics]

Island Oak:

Having had 3 kids, I’d be thrilled to hear someone say “she’s still hot” without suggesting it had anything to do with menopause!!

 

[Christus_Rex]

I describe girls as pretty, beautiful etc. I would never use ‘hot’ as I am completely sick of the Americanization of the English language!

Michael

 

[Servus_Pio_XII]

Huzza! From a future Briton to a current Briton!

Remember to put your “me” on programme and your “u” in colour!
It is not the American language, and I intend to rectify that.

 

[Christus_Rex]

Absolutely Servus Pio XII! Hooray for ENGLISH!
It’s so annoying when Britons use ‘color’, ‘favor’ etc and use American words! Someone came up to me the other day and asked whether I would be going to badminton club in the fall. I practically screamed at him, its AUTUMN not the bloody FALL!!!

Whereabouts are you now anyway? Are you an American?

oops, hijacked the thread. Sorry

Michael
Servus Pio XII:

Huzza! From a future Briton to a current Briton!

Remember to put your “me” on programme and your “u” in colour!
It is not the American language, and I intend to rectify that.

 

[Servus_Pio_XII]

Off Topic: Yes, I am at the moment, and far too young to do anything about it. I recently downloaded the recipie for crumpets and treated my family to some real tea (not “sweet iced tea”).

However, I did dispatch a letter to the rector of Allen Hall seminary in London, and hope to get a reply soon (I forgot the Postal Code , so it will take a while to get there). I am seriously considering the priesthood, but have a deap-seated love of England and the English culture, so I would like to settle there.

On Topic: I don’t usually comment on girl’s looks. I know that I would not like people saying “she’s hot” about me if I were a girl.

However, if I had to chuse words, I would agree with Christus Rex.

 

[RockAndHoops]

Good point about other people talking about someone’s looks. I wouldn’t want people to turn me into an object either, so it would only make sense that I wouldn’t do that to them, right? I don’t tell my friends or others about what people look like, unless they ask (and even then not always), in which case I try give that girl the utmost respect in saying she’s attractive. I guess it all starts in the mind, and if it’s pure there it’ll probably be pure coming out of my mouth.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

The word “hot” used to describe a woman’s looks certainly isn’t an insult, but it isn’t really appropriate, either. Keep in mind that it comes from the same culture that sells women skin-tight, low-cut shorts with provocative words printed on the butt.

I’m hoping this use of the word “hot” becomes as outmoded as the word “groovy”.

There are lots of better words in the thesaurus.

**Crazy Internet Junkies Society
**Carrier of the Angelic Sparkles Sprinkle Bag

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

CarolAnnSFO:

The word “hot” used to describe a woman’s looks certainly isn’t an insult, but it isn’t really appropriate, either.

Exactly!

I think we have to be careful not to read more meaning into something than there is.

On the other hand, if one of the polite wonderful young men on this thread used the word “hot”, with the way they feel about it, I would say it was an insult.

Most people who use the term are doing so in a harmless way. The people who find the term offensive usually don’t use it.

But that’s just my opinion.

Malia

 

[AlanFromWichita]

If I’m talking to my wife about another woman, I usually would say, “she’s very pretty” about a young, attractive woman. If she was also slutty, I would specify that separately such as, “Julie, I think that girl’s really pretty, but don’t you think she looks like a whore in that outfit?” I might use “cute” depending on the nature of the attractiveness. Sometimes I avoid labels, for more specific description, such as “wow, check out that pink top she’s wearing.”

If I’m talking to friends, I usually listen because they have more to say than I on the topic of other women.

If I’m talking to my kids, I usually use “hot” because they do.

It’s kind of like the vernacular I guess.

Alan

 

[Topher]

Christus Rex:

I describe girls as pretty, beautiful etc. I would never use ‘hot’ as I am completely sick of the Americanization of the English language!

Michael

Why, its just the natrual evolutioin of langauge. It happens to all languages.

 

[Topher]

Comon guys. For me Hot, is just a word that describes a woman as being physically attractive. If I was not physically attracted to women, then I would have a whole other set of problems. Furthermore, if someone said that I was hot, I would not be offended in the least. We should not be afraid of appreciating human beauty in the opposite sex. That is normal and healthy. It only becomes problematic when we become lustful about it.

 

[uther]

Topher:

I am a young guy and I try to be a faithful Catholic but when I say a girl is hot that does not mean I want to “get but not stay with”. When I say a girl is hot, I mean that she is beautiful, attractive, and even sexually attractive. That does not mean I am lusting after her or entertaining impure thoughts. It simply means that she physically desireable.

What kind of thoughts are you entertaining to make that evaluation?

Or are your thoughts entertaining you? :ehh:

Just asking.

 

[RockAndHoops]

Topher:

We should not be afraid of appreciating human beauty in the opposite sex. That is normal and healthy. It only becomes problematic when we become lustful about it.

See, that’s kind of the point of the thread. From the discussion I had in college, we agreed that “hot” tended to be a loaded word; it often denotes high physical beauty, but with it usually comes the connotation of being “easy”, “loose”, or otherwise sexually capricious. If indeed that is the case, then I wouldn’t want to use it.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

uther:

What kind of thoughts are you entertaining to make that evaluation?

Or are your thoughts entertaining you? :ehh:

Just asking.

In my case, my wife and I occasionally discuss the physical attractiveness of women, especially with regard to how it interplays with their personality and other people. Physical attractiveness, like it or not, plays a large part in how a person interacts with others – both their own perception of themselves and the perception others have, and for that matter, perception others have of the person’s own perception, as in “she is beautiful but she obviously knows it.”

The other day I was looking through a book of art from some of the great museums, including the Vatican, Louvre, and a couple dozen other biggie places. One this I noticed about practically all of the naked women in those photos, is they were decidedly not as skinny as you find in today’s advertisements. They actually had a little meat on their bones, and they were very beautiful – not the anorexic look we usually see today as the “standard” for beauty.

It would be strange if I were allowed to say, “that is a beautiful flower” or “that is a cute dog” but I’m not allowed to say, “that woman is very attractive to me.” I guess in the first two cases we are describing something we aren’t specifically designed to be attracted to, so maybe we think it’s OK in a “cerebral” way, but as soon as it’s a woman we’re talking about then I’m just supossed to not notice – that makes no sense at all, and lacks intellectual and human honesty. I can find a woman beautiful and not lust after her. It took many years with a wonderful woman in sacramental marriage before I got to where I can say that in confidence. If there is a little lust underneath, I’m not going to deny it for that matter. I don’t nurse the lust, but neither do my wife nor I feel that I should live life with blinders on. Gosh we’re getting old it seems, and many think 40-something is still young.

After finally getting rid of the guilt and stupidity about looking at other women, and a few other factors, it made it much easier to be myself around my wife as well as friends on this issue, and has greatly lowered my temptation and visual lust issue. Since looking and commenting on a pretty woman is an activity my wife and I share, it no longer brings guilt which kicks in my automatic “doggie” instincts – in fact I don’t even think I’ve noticed that instinct for some time now.

Alan

 

[AlanFromWichita]

RockAndHoops:

See, that’s kind of the point of the thread. From the discussion I had in college, we agreed that “hot” tended to be a loaded word; it often denotes high physical beauty, but with it usually comes the connotation of being “easy”, “loose”, or otherwise sexually capricious. If indeed that is the case, then I wouldn’t want to use it.

Specifically on that issue, I have four teenagers and two preteens, all of whom except the youngest uses the word “hot” and as far as I know it carries no such connotations for them.

These days kids are pretty good at describing their true feelings on such issues. You should see their blogs and email and instant messages. That’s where many parents would learn More Than They Wanted To Know about their kids but don’t even know to look. Kids talk about hot as one thing, and “whorish” or “slutty” as another. Kids do not seem to bury their opinions behind such as ambiguous girl as “hot.” If she’s “hot” then she is physically attractive to somebody. If she’s thought of as promuscuous or flirty or whatever, I guarantee kids will be very explicit about that part as a separate issue. You would not believe how explicit these kids get – even in talking to one another. They use words we never dreamed of using in front of another’s face when we were little. In a way, that’s not all bad; at least kids tend to know where they stand with one another.

At least in my experience.

Alan