Watching TV in America, one of the words you will hear so many times is “CUTE”

If you look up an English dictionary, cute is an adjective meaning “attractive or pleasingly pretty”. Having this kind of definition, it sounds like I can use this word in so many situations. But, the more I live here in the U.S., the more I feel like there are bunch of situations you do not want to use this adjective.

So, I would like to illustrate a few situations which are fine.

Situation 1 : When you had a chance to talk to a person with a baby and you think the baby is so adorable. “So cute baby!!” or you could use adorable itself like “She is so adorable!”

Situation 2 : For pets like “Your dog is so cute!”

Situation 3 : Watching TV, you see really famous handsome guy like Brad Pitt, assuming you are a lady, you could say, “he is so cute!” Or If you see me in the climbing wall, you could say “Terry! you are so cute!” Then I would say, “I know! Thanks!” Haha, just kidding!

And the following situations are the ones I have felt not proper.

Situation 1: When I am hanging out with my friends, I tell my friend’s wife, “Oh you are so cute!” This seems weird. By the way, if you go to Korea and you are interested in a woman, do not say “You are cute!” because it means you are not beautiful. Usually, in Korea, when a guy thinks that a woman is not beautiful and he does not know what to say, guys use “You are cute.” But, “You are beautiful” should be fine.  ……. But, I know, guys, it is hard to say “You are beautiful” to a woman when you do not think she is. How about if I say “You are so beautiful!” to my friend’s wife. Is this also weird?

Situation 2: In the same situation, my wife tells my male friend, “Oh you are so cute!” or “I think your hands are so cute!” This situation actually happened before. When I was hanging out with Jake, Patrick and Rachel, my wife told Jake, “Jake! Your hands are so cute!” That was the time I was actually curious whether it is proper to use it or not.

So I am curious when is a proper time to use cute? Well, actually, when is not a proper time to use it?

Where : TV show “Parenthood”

Scene: This expression is used by the TV show, Parenthood. Specifically, when a mother of a daughter comes to the daughter place where she stays with her boyfriend. I think the daughter is pretty young like high school student and tries to stay with her boyfriend instead of staying her parents. The mother looks angry and says very strong expressions to threaten the daughter’s boyfriend. Then the daughter tells to her boyfriend, “Stay right there, it is all right. Her bark is worse than her bite.”

Definition: This  means someone’s actions are not as bad as their threats.