Forum: Author Hangout

American Beauty

awnlee jawking 🚫

I've been struggling for appropriate adjectives to summarise relative external female beauty because some seem to have different meanings between American and British English. For example, 'homely' is probably about average in British English but it seems to mean ugly in American English.

So, from best down to worst, what would your beauty scale read like.

My attempt, for starters:

Stunning
Gorgeous
Attractive
Cute
Homely
Plain
Ugly
Repulsive

(Apologies for the unintended misogyny.)

AJ

Replies: DBActive Switch Blayde Argon mrherewriting ralord82276

DBActive 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Using that list:
Gorgeous
Stunning
Cute
Attractive
Plain
Homely
Ugly
Repulsive

I'd probably be likely to put "beautiful" at the top. "Stunning" always makes that somone has something odd or unusual, but attractive, about them.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@DBActive

Thanks.

Makes me think I dodged a bullet by not using 'homely' :-)

AJ

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I dodged a bullet by not using 'homely'

From Google's English dictionary (which is provided by Oxford languages), I found this for "homely":

1. NORTH AMERICAN
(of a person) unattractive in appearance.

2. BRITISH
(of a place or surroundings) simple but cozy and comfortable, as in one's own home.

I don't know what Oxford languages is, but that makes no sense. Americans also use #2 for a place in that way. I don't know why Google thinks that's British. And wouldn't Canada be included in North America? And why do they think "homely" is only American when used for a person. You use it and you're British. But for a person, in America, it has negative connotations.

Replies: awnlee jawking DBActive

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

I don't know what Oxford languages

I suspect it's a rebrand of Oxford English Dictionary :-(

AJ

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I suspect it's a rebrand of Oxford English Dictionary :-(

https://languages.oup.com/about-us/

It appears that Oxford Languages is a linguistics research program that among other things is the author of the Oxford English Dictionary (at least for current editions).

OED is a product of Oxford Languages, Oxford Languages is not a rebranding of OED.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Dominions Son

OED is a product of Oxford Languages, Oxford Languages is not a rebranding of OED.

I believe it is. They decided it was getting more and more stupid issuing dictionaries in other languages under the OED label.

AJ

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I believe it is.

You can believe what you want, but that's not what Oxford Languages says about itself on its own website.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Dominions Son

First OED - 1478.

'Oxford languages' claims it dates back to the mid nineteenth century, but I'd never heard of it until the last couple of years when it came up with a stripped-down version of the OED to supplant a Cambridge-branded dictionary in providing definitions for Google.

AJ

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

First OED - 1478.

'Oxford languages' claims it dates back to the mid nineteenth century

Oxford Languages is first and foremost, as it describes itself, a "world-class language research programme"

They are not the original authors of OED, but at some point, authorship of OED was turned over to them.

but I'd never heard of it until the last couple of years when it came up with a stripped-down version of the OED to supplant a Cambridge-branded dictionary in providing definitions for Google.

Since Oxford Languages is a "language research programme" and the various dictionaries that they produce are merely a side product, there's no particular reason for you to have heard of them.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Dominions Son

They are not the original authors of OED, but at some point, authorship of OED was turned over to them.

We'll have to disagree on that. I believe OED became an unhelpful name considering all the dictionaries and research it was doing, so they rebranded the whole caboodle Oxford Languages, including those people working principally on the OED as a subgroup. So no handing over.

AJ

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@awnlee jawking

I believe OED became an unhelpful name considering all the dictionaries and research it was doing, so they rebranded the whole caboodle Oxford Languages, including those people working principally on the OED as a subgroup.

Again, that contradicts what is on their own website.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Dominions Son

Again, that contradicts what is on their own website.

Does it? I can't see where.

AJ

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@awnlee jawking

Does it? I can't see where.

You say:

OED became an unhelpful name

And yet OED/Oxford English Dictionary is all over their web site.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Dominions Son

But that's not necessarily a good thing when trying to sell eg the OED Spanish Dictionary. The Oxford Languages Spanish Dictionary sounds much better.

I have no idea whether they currently have a Spanish dictionary but, well over a decade ago in a talk given by someone working on the OED, the speaker expressed a hope of getting opportunities to join new ventures to work on dictionaries in other languages, and I think she mentioned Spanish.

AJ

Replies: Dominions Son

Dominions Son 🚫

@awnlee jawking

But that's not necessarily a good thing when trying to sell eg the OED Spanish Dictionary. The Oxford Languages Spanish Dictionary sounds much better.

Actually, if it's a Spanish dictionary and not a Spanish-English dictionary, I would expect the title to be in Spanish not English.

DBActive 🚫

@Switch Blayde

I have never seen or heard any American use homely for anything but an unattractive person, except in very old novels.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@DBActive

I have never seen or heard any American use homely for anything but an unattractive person

Really? As in, having a feeling of home—cozy and comfortable. Such as, that hotel has a homely atmosphere.

Replies: tendertouch awnlee jawking

tendertouch 🚫

@Switch Blayde

Really? As in, having a feeling of home—cozy and comfortable. Such as, that hotel has a homely atmosphere.

In the US that would usually be 'homey' rather than 'homely'. Not to say homely hasn't been used that way, but I haven't seen it in any writing from this country. I just did a quick check and Grammarist confirms that – homey in the United States is the same as homely in Great Britain, but homely over here as plain or unattractive.

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@tendertouch

homey in the United States is the same as homely in Great Britain, but homely over here as plain or unattractive.

So the Google dictionary was right.

And now that you mention "homey," I think that's the word I would use.

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫
Updated:

@Switch Blayde

And now that you mention "homey," I think that's the word I would use.

Isn't that a term for someone wearing the same gang colours? It's not something I would even have considered.

AJ

Replies: BlacKnight

BlacKnight 🚫

@awnlee jawking

No, that's "homie".

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@BlacKnight

No, that's "homie".

From Dictionary.com:

The slang term homey is a variant of homie, which is a shortened, gender-neutral form of homeboy or homegirl. These terms are all associated with urban and hip hop culture and are primarily used by members of African American and Latinx communities in the U.S.

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

As in, having a feeling of home—cozy and comfortable. Such as, that hotel has a homely atmosphere.

I think that's also the rationale behind the main British English usage. A homely girl is one you could consider marrying and setting up home with.

AJ

Switch Blayde 🚫

@awnlee jawking

awnlee, back to your OP, I'll just give you the top and bottom of the list.

Top - premature ejaculation
Bot - but she can cook

Replies: awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Switch Blayde

Top - premature ejaculation

But would she need to orally stimulate you to get you hard first? :-)

Bot - but she can cook

She'd be mid-table in my list ;-)

AJ

Argon 🚫
Updated:

@awnlee jawking

I'd put "cute" over "attractive", if you want to describe purely physical characteristics. A woman can be plain, but due to her personality, attractive. Oh, yes, plain over homely.
But what do I know; I'm a Kraut. In my native Bavaria, the highest praise for beauty would be "she's not that ugly at all" (die is gar net so häßlich)

Replies: awnlee jawking awnlee jawking

awnlee jawking 🚫
Updated:

@Argon

I'd put "cute" over "attractive", if you want to describe purely physical characteristics.

Perhaps 'attractive' is too broad a concept for a 'league table'. I can imagine someone described as 'attractive' subsequently being described as 'beautiful', but I'd feel uncomfortable about some described as 'cute' subsequently being described as 'beautiful'.

ETA
2 SOL stories contain 'awooga'.
1 SOL story contains 'humina'.

AJ

awnlee jawking 🚫

@Argon

I'd put "cute" over "attractive"

Where would you put 'pretty' in the league table?

AJ

mrherewriting 🚫

@awnlee jawking

1: Awooga!
2: humina, humina, humina.

Realistically:
After you've described the person and the way the characters feel and react to them, any descriptive word will do unless you plan on using the same word over and over again.

ralord82276 🚫

@awnlee jawking

my opinion based on 3 areas- physical looks, personality (intelligence, wisdom, humor, honesty, empathy, zest, sass), and personal attraction (charisma, connection):

Gorgeous (tops all 3 areas)
Stunning (tops 2 of the 3 areas, above avg on 3rd)
Beautiful (tops 1 of 3, avg or above avg on the other 2)
Cute (doesn't get top on any of the 3 areas, but above avg on all 3)
Pretty (above avg on 2 of the 3 areas, avg on 3rd)
Attractive (above avg on 1 of the 3, avg on other 2)
Plain (avg across the board)
Homely (avg on 2 areas, below avg on 1)
Ugly (avg on 1 area, below avg on other 2)
Hideous (below avg on all 3 areas)
Repulsive (Bottom tier on personality or personal attraction, regardless of level of physical looks)

Forum: Author Hangout

American Beauty

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