Cute - Not Just a Pretty Face

Coral - Champion of Cuteness
(photo by Cam Fu)

CUTE

Adjective. Colloquial. Early 18th century.

[Aphetized from ACUTE.]

1 Clever, keen-witted, shrewd; ingenious. E18

2 Attractive, pretty; quaint, fascinating. E19

Oh no! What's become of Lexicolatry? This is a serious blog about the intricacies of the English lexicon, and here I am showing pictures of cute babies! What next? Kittens? Puppies? Lolcats? Right. Focus. I need to rescue this post. Oh flip! I've just found a picture of a baby hippo ...

Aww!
(photo by Tambako)

C'mon! Get it together. Here we go: Cute, meaning 'pretty', is actually quite modern; it developed from acute, meaning 'insightful, shrewd'. This definition has been somewhat superseded by the 'pretty baby' form of cute, but it is still used, as I once learnt to my embarrassment when an Irish girl I liked told me I was "too cute", and then quickly clarified "No, not that type of cute!" when it was clear I had misunderstood. Another thing about cute is ... Whaaaaa! A trio of baby hedgehogs! ...

Awwwww!

Ahem. One thing that's clear about cute and cuteness is how subjective it is. I actually had a bit of difficulty finding a picture for this post as the internet is awash with pictures tagged 'cute', usually of people's babies, children, pets, etc. The thing is, parents of the world, I hate to break it to you, but not everyone's kids are cute (I'd provide some examples, but that would be in very poor taste indeed); I think there must be some kind of biological function that compels a parent to think their child is cute, which is probably the source of the expression "a face only a mother could love." And don't even get me started on what some pet owners think is cute ...

Umm ...
(photo by Pets Adviser) 

Anyway, I've clearly succumbed to the will of the internet, and this post has become a repository of all the photos I've found over the past couple of years that have made me go "Awwwww!" and hate myself at the same time. Except Coral, the baby in the lead picture. That picture is not my style at all - generally, I'm not one for adorning babies in ribbons and pearls and other embellishments. But c'mon! Is that not clearly, undoubtedly, unsubjectively one of the cutest babies in the history of the world ever? Oh no! I don't believe it! There's another one ... 

Awwwwwwwwwww! Stick me in the freezer coz my heart just melted!
(photo by Christopher Allison Photography)

Do please leave your most insightfully cute comments in the .... Whaaa! He's wearing a little hat! ... (ahem) ... box below.