Pretty is …
a word that was originally used to describe someone who was cunning, crafty, or clever. Then it had come to mean skillful and able (referring to how something was made or done) followed by difficult, unwelcome, and awkward. And then to mean fairly or moderately. The word pretty was not used to describe a person’s countenance until the mid to late 18th century.
What about the word beautiful? In the early 14th century, according to http://www.etymonline.com, the word beautiful meant someone who possessed physical attractiveness, as well as goodness and courtesy. That last part seems to have gotten lost in history.
While the word pretty was used to describe someone “…in a fairly ordinary way,” as well as “…not quite beautiful.” Hmmm, interesting. Maybe average?(https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/pretty_2)
In the Eye of the Beholder
The meaning of the word pretty has changed throughout the centuries, yet the word beautiful seems to have retained its original meaning. You could say that is a pretty dress or that was pretty mean, either way we understand the meaning.
However, when we say someone is beautiful it is understood that it is in a physical context. And although our ideas of beauty have changed over the last few decades to include someone’s personality, what we call inner beauty, for some reason when describing a person, we still feel the need to disclose if a person is beautiful specifically on the outside, inside, or both.
It comes down to beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? In fact, everything is in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes many people see the same value in something or someone such as celebrities or automobiles. Even in sports. I once heard a sports commentator say, “that was a pretty dunk.” I could go on and on. At the end of the day it’s only semantics. It’s the giver’s opinion and the receiver who adds the weight and the meaning.
Actions Are Ugly
Remember that movie Shallow Hal? Inner beauty, love is blind, everyone is beautiful in their own way? Yes! That’s it.
Ugly is as ugly does, pretty is flexible, and beauty is subjective.
It all becomes a problem when one person proceeds to tell another person what they are worth simply by looking at them.
When someone tells you that you are not pretty, it is because they feel ugly.
If they tell you that you are not beautiful it is because they feel themselves unworthy and believe that something “beautiful” in their possession will make them so.
When someone tries to drag your heart, your spirit down, or dim your light, recognize their actions as ugly.
Real beauty comes from the heart, the soul, through the spirit, and flows outwards. Words are not necessary in its presence.
“Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.”
Franz Kafka
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