Why do people say "Cute as a bug"?

Published by: smith 2009-01-09

I mean, seriously, have they not looked at a bug lately? They are horrendously UGLY!!

Can somebody please tell me how that is a compliment????

They are referring to a ladybug. The saying comes from lady bug looking similar to a button. The lady bug somehow looked similar to a button {I don't know, they used to say they were}. Therefore they are saying that that you're as cute as Lady Bug, which is a button. Now why are buttons cute, i'm not sure........

Good question....although, Lady bugs aren't bad...

watcha talking bout? I love bugs!! They're adorable. I love ladybugs and little earthworms. I guess only people like me use that phrase

I think they are referring to a bug's diminutive size, not its actual apearance.

I don't know about that, I've seen a few Praying Mantises that have turned my head I'll tell you!

I think it has to do with their size, like teeny little beetles and ladybugs.. insects in general can be scary but generally 'bug' refers to harmless, small insects like beetles and ladybugs and butterflies.

it's a nice way of calling you ugly, i guess.

but i hate when they say, "your as cute as a button, i could just eat you up!" that's fallowed by a poke on the nose and pinching my cheeks.

it's like what are you a perverted cannibal that's going for the Hannibal Lecter feel by starting with the cheeks?

It's just an idiom that means "If something is as cute as a bug, it is sweet and endearing" I don't think "cute as a bug" is really talking about a bug being really cute...it's just like "cute as a button".
but I agree with you-- I hate bugs and they're hideously ugly and creepy lol!! : p

I know right! I mean like, there are no cute bugs! haha

When I hear that I think of a cute ladybug, but you are right.Most bugs I have seen were pretty scary looking.

Have you ever seen a lady bug?They are sooo cute and bring good luck:> E

Hey Mrs. Robinson.

I know, also "cute as a button"

or when you hear your grandparents say, "When you were knee-high to a grasshopper....." That's very very small. Can you imagine coming face to face with a grasshopper?

i hate bugs!
so is that supposed to be an insult?

I dunno how it's a compliment but it must be because grandparents always pinch your cheeks and squeal "You're as cute as a bug" when you're in a dress or suit and they wouldn't say that if it means ugly.

I never understood the the phrase "cute a a button". Buttons are not cute either.

But I do like the word heiny... It's a funny word. Try using it in conversation. It stands out. "Check out her Heiny". Dear god...

Lady Bugs are cute

"Bright as a button" is the British version of CUTE AS A BUTTON which means "cute, charming, attractive, almost always with the connotation of being small, 1868 (from the original 1731 English meaning of 'acute' or clever). Cute as a bug's ear, 1930; cute as a bug in a rug, 1942; cute as a button, 1946. Cute and keen were two of the most overused slang words of the late 1920s and 1930s." From "Listening to America" by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1992.)

"Bright as a button" also makes sense as if you think of a polished brass button. The phrase is really only ever used of small people - you'd say that a child, or maybe a small dog, was as bright as a button, but you'd never say it of a six-foot man. So the image is of a small sparky thing.

Lol maybe they really meant to say 'cute as a button'.

I never got that either. I've had it said to me and I didn't take it as a compliment. Bugs are gross.

It is from "Cute as a Button" and "Cute as a Bug's Ear". It means "Daintily Attractive" because of their small size. These sayings became popular in the early 1900s.