(no subject)

[deckardcanine]

I seem to have discovered a hole in the English language.

When something's funny, you're amused.
When something's gross, you're disgusted.
When someone's sexy, you're aroused.
When something looks or smells delicious, you're tantalized.
But when something's cute, you're...what?

It certainly strikes me as a unique feeling; it can provoke a different response from anything else. I wouldn't classify it as a subset of happiness, because you can feel far from happy while observing cuteness.

Does any language have a word for this? I suspect Japanese, but I'm not the best researcher for it. We may need to coin a term.

Comments

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I'm also frustrated that there's no apparently no English word for "acting cute with the intent of getting something out of it, i.e. a puppy begging at the table". If I can't discover such a word, I'll have to make one up, because I have a story that demands it.

[thefoxaroo.livejournal.com]

Go for it. There's no harm in making up words, in fact when successful that's one of the ways the English language expands. Geoffrey Chaucer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer) added a lot of new words to our language, and even as recently as Dr. Seuss we've gained new words such as "Nerd" (which he used to describe one of his creatures).