STOP SAYING "Pretty" / "Handsome" / "Cute" - Improve your English Vocabulary

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you're so pretty

- That's it? I'm just "pretty"? - Well yes... no?

That's all you think of me?

No I'm just saying I think you're pretty

Such a boring word

- Then what should I say? - I don't know. I'm not a poet

Me either! I'm stupid

So you like someone's face, their hair, their body, whatever

and you want to tell that person

well some of the words you're using might be wrong

they might be old-fashioned, they might be too formal

"I'm sorry my English teacher told me an old-fashioned word that people don't use anymore?

Yeah right!"

yeah

okay different words we can use

You want to say that someone is attractive, of course you can use the word "attractive", that's fine

also good-looking or nice-looking, fine

Those are the standard words to say:

You. This. mmm ;)

Also those words are more objective

It's not necessarily your personal opinion

it could be that you're saying

"Well this is not just me! I'm sure everyone enjoys your face!

You! Good face! Congratulations on your face!"

For example

"Dude what do you think of Megan?"

"Yeah she's attractive she's good-looking"

See? Zero emotion

Although that might just be because I'm British and I don't have a heart

The next word "Cute" Hmm how to describe this word?

There are two feelings with this word. One is:

"Aww look how cute those three are!

I want to adopt this puppy, kitten, or baby... they're cute!"

and in more American English it has this feeling:

"Oh she's cute I want to date her!"

So that first feeling of "Aww"

when you see a puppy or a child

looking innocent or doing something innocently

then yes you would say that's cute

for example

yep that's me look I even had hair I'm about three I was adorable

"Adorable" just means very very cute

and if you say this to an adult

it's like saying you're acting in an innocent childlike way or

you look innocent in a kind of childish way

so it could sound kind of creepy

if you said it, you know a certain time, or in a certain way

but in American English:

- "Do I look cute?" - "Yeah!"

- "Really cute?" - "So cute!"

and that would just mean you're attractive, you're pretty

similar to "cute" is "sweet"

Side note: I've noticed that my Turkish students use this word wrong

For example, some of my Turkish students might say

"She's very sweety"

now the idea is right but the word is wrong

"sweety" that's a noun and that's

what you'd use to call your girlfriend/boyfriend, your honey, your boo, your BAE

but sweet that's the adjective and it's very similar to cute

it just means you look or you act innocent or you do something very kind

for someone are you so sweet you bought me Donuts that's really sweet thank you

so these next few words it's more personal there's more of a feeling with

them what kind of feeling I would like to marry this person one day that kind

of thing so all of these adjectives are for both men and women first of course

pretty ah no pretty is just for women you can't

say pretty for a man wrong wrong pretty can be used to

describe a man if his face has like feminine features so not a beard but you

know like that guy who's that guy you know Timothy shallow shallow met

chalahe me channel what's that guy's name that guy that guy has a pretty face

there's no facial hair it's kind of feminine right so an appropriate

adjective you could use is he's a he's a pretty man beautiful is a more extreme

pretty again you can use it for men you can use it for women and it just means

that you think that their face their body that everything is perfect you want

to marry them and have like ten thousand of their babies next

we have handsome okay no no no that one's definitely just for men my teacher

told me that a dude I'm sorry but that's wrong again yes it's much more common to

use for men but if you use it to describe a woman usually it's for an

older woman so you're saying you look good because of your older age you look

elegant well-groomed for example Helen Mirren that's a handsome woman stunning

this one gives a big wow feeling it's definitely stronger for example wow you

look stunning similar to stunning it's much stronger

so be careful when you use it we have a word breathtaking and usually it's for

landscape nature but you can use it for a person for example if they look so

good that you're like it takes your breath away you look breathtaking it's

really formal an appropriate way to use breathtaking would be wow in your

wedding dress you look breathtaking probably just that any other situation

it might sound strange okay maybe you're not thinking about love and marriage

maybe you're thinking something more you want something sexy in your adjective

you want to say I would like to see that person naked one day that kind of thing

first gorgeous pronunciation Gor just gorgeous we also have hot sexy and a

very British word fit in British English this means you're attractive you're

really good-looking but it's more international meaning just means

athletic the opposite of unhealthy but again in British English it means

while you are fit love that one is saying you're very attractive

an expression you can use is easy on the eyes when the movie Thor came out

literally every woman said the same thing about Chris Hemsworth

here's very easy on the eyes it just means this person is attractive I enjoy

looking at them that sounds creepy but as an expression it's not creepy and you

can use it for men and women you know if you want to compliment someone's body

type and I strongly recommend that you be careful if you do let's have a look

at a few compliments you could give for a body type again be careful who you say

these to okay these adjectives are for women only for this body type we could

say curvy curvaceous or voluptuous that is quite specifically for this body type

also we call this body type an hourglass bigger

she has an hourglass figure now for men only rugged describes a guy who think of

the traditional masculine characteristics and that describes

rugged like they're comfortable outside or working with their hands but and

they're also attractive that's rugged another body type would be

this one buff hench jacked they mean that you're big and have muscles but

ripped means yes you have muscles but like zero body fat and again this is

just talking about muscles so it could be for men it could be for women and

finally these adjectives are much more formal kind of old-fashioned so you

might hear them you probably won't say them and they're not just for looks it's

more characteristics it's an impression that you have

someone's entire person endearing if you meet someone who is endearing your

reaction is like they make me want to love them you know when you meet a

friend's grandparents and they're so sweet

they're so endearing I want to love them that might be when you use that charming

okay think Tom Hiddleston saying nice polite things to you there are also

compliments and make you feel good and warm inside that would be charming

engaging this is when someone takes your attention now usually you would use this

to describe an interaction with someone for example oh I had a really engaging

conversation with this guy about poetry stronger than that would be captivating

a captivating person or event or thing gets your entire attention and doesn't

let it go that Avengers movie was captivating enchanting think witches and

wizards they put a love spell on you whoa I met

her for like five minutes I think I'm in love

she's so enchanting again those words are not very common to use because

they're quite formal kind of old-fashioned

so in everyday speech you probably won't use them if you write them on someone's

Instagram photo it would sound a bit strange unless they are dressed like

Harry Potter or Hermione then enchanting might make sense now once you're dating

that beautiful person you're going to need to show off your other talents

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