Pink and Green Thursday: Cute As a Button

First, make sure you enter my giveaway, hosted by Candy Shop Vintage, so you can win this fabulous necklace.  Isn't this shop just "cute as a button?!"

Do you use that expression?  I find myself using it all the time.  Our dog Beignet is as cute as a button.  A baby girl in a ruffly bathing suit is as cute as a button.  I could go on!  Sometimes I use expressions without ever really knowing what they mean and where they originated. I mean, really, a button?  I wouldn't ordinarily describe a button as cute.  Which makes me wonder - how'd this phrase come about??

Well, I found two varying opinions on the matter. 
The first says, "The origin of the phrase “cute as a button”…actually has nothing to do with a button as in a button on a shirt. The button quail is a very small gray super, super fluffy squishy looking (or ‘cute’ if you will) bird. People used to say “cute as a button”, meaning “cute as a button quail” b/c the bird was considered so adorable."

The second is that "“Bright as a button” was a popular phrase for a long time and could refer to personality or intelligence. “Cute” originally came from “acute” and meant “shrewd, clever, sharp”.  Shiny buttons produced “bright as a button”. “Bright” meaning “clever” was synonymous with “cute” so “cute as a button” appeared but the shininess was lost. The modern meaning of “cute” is very different from the original so “cute as a button.”"

I'm not sure which one I prefer to believe, all I know is that in this case (as proven by the pictures below), buttons are pretty darn cute, in the modern sense of the word...
  

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

What's your favorite common phrase to use???

Head on over to Trish's blog here and play along with her on this Pink and Green Thursday!