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In Japanese culture, is it common or normal for female to friends to call each other cute in a non romantic sense?

OlympusRoyalMon

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So like in the in the west, it common for female friends to do this to each other without it being romantic and all. I understand that cuteness plays a role in Japanese culture and so I was curious, it is normal/common for female friends to do this to each other in a non romantic/appreciative sense? I ask as I saw a show in HS and a girl said her friend who is also a girl is the world's cutest and I'm not sure how that's interpreted in japan. Said friend also acts childish and refers to herself as chan, so I'm inclined to think it's non-romantic and likes cute things in general, so I was just curious
 
Before answering your new question, I'm curious what you think about our members' conversation concering your attitude to the replies to your question in your previous thread. Did you read those replies? No response even after reading them?

As a 20-21 year old university student, is there a stigma to dating someone younger than 20?

I'm currently a 20 year old uni student going on study abroad and during that time, I will turn 21. I am open to the idea of dating someone in uni while I am there and while I would prefer someone my year, I guess I would be ok with a little younger. I understand that in Japan, the age of...
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Oh, I'm sorry, I totally forgot about that, my mistake
 
Toritoribe said:
Yes.
Click to expand...
I see, thanks. I mentioned before that I saw in a show, this girl in HS last year considers he friend to be the worlds cutest and was wondering if that should be seen in a romantic way or more like appreciative way as like she thinks i dunno, like a kitten is or something

Also, is it true its more common for it to not be romantic
 
In that context, there's no reason to think it's romantic.

I mean, Japanese words don't correspond 100% to English equivalents, so I can't say 可愛い covers the exact same range of meanings as cute, but in this case it's really quite comparable. Just like you can call someone "cute" in English and mean that they're cute in a way you're attracted to, or "cute" just meaning sweet and charming or whatever, you can do the same in Japanese. The specific nuance and implication depends on the context.

I'm not sure what sort of an answer you're looking for, but there's really no magical, arcane Japanese wisdom to be offered on this subject.
 
For context, this character likes cute things and her friend is noted to act very childish and refers to herself as chan, so I'm also inclined to think it's not romantic. I was also wondering, cuz one friend was doing a beauty contest and she said something like "her friend is the world's cutest, so she should/deserves to win" which is why I wondered if it was romantic/attraction
 
It's a fictional character in a fictional story, and you are free to interpret her words and intentions however you want.

There's really nothing else I or anyone else can tell you.
 
bentenmusume said:
It's a fictional character in a fictional story, and you are free to interpret her words and intentions however you want.

There's really nothing else I or anyone else can tell you.
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Ok, but with what I said, would you say there is still no reason to think its romantic btw?
 
Please read my previous reply again. This is a language learning board. I have already answered your question in terms of the Japanese language and culture, which is the only sense in which I am qualified to answer this question.

I have no interest in speculating about whether a fictional character in a show I've never seen has romantic feelings for another character. That is not a language or culture question. Please interpret it however you like.
 
To answer your original question - yes. When I taught English I often encountered mature Japanese women with reasonably good English who described their friends as 'cute' - I assume that came from a direct translation of kawaii. I got the rest of the class to try and think of more appropriate words.
 
I'd like to add a point about that definition of 'cute' and I haven't gone to one of those fancy online dictionaries for help so this may come out rather rough, but cute sometimes means 'not cute and worse' as in if you do something really bad and I state: "Now that was cute." I am obviously meaning that what you did was nasty times 3 or more. I am sure we could find some movie line/scene that would explain that much better. But 'cute' can sometimes mean really bad --- really, really bad.
 
This is getting off topic (which is fine with me, because I find this topic more interesting than where the original one eventually ended up), but isn't that just an example of sarcasm?

Like I can go out in the pouring rain and comment "Beautiful weather today, huh?". Or if I'm coughing up a lung and someone asks me how I'm feeling, I can say "Oh, great. I'm feeling great."

But that's different from saying that "beautiful" and "great" actually have an alternate definition of "terrible."
 
You're probably right and I am injecting my own imagination into some script that hasn't been written, yet.

Looking back at that which I wrote does give me a feeling I went a tad bit too far off the road, but I'm not sure.

I did go ahead and search our wonderful Net library and the Collins' folks seems to have an interesting page on this here:

Cute definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary

Cute definition: Something or someone that is cute is very pretty or attractive, or is intended to appear... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples
www.collinsdictionary.com

They have some people that feel an indication of shrewdness is another use of cute and also something related to an artificialness about something.

But I honestly thought I had seen it used by some Hollywood writer(s) in a meaner way, as I wrote above. But I might very well be wrong.

And your reference to sarcasm is good and I suspect you have something there.

This is one of those words in the English language that can be messed with quite a bit, it seems.

But the truth is, language is a very flexible thing and I look at the use of vocabulary like spaghetti; when it is completely dry it is so brittle and snaps into two so easily --- but when it is moist it can be twisted without getting snapped.

And as I am sure you have noticed, I mess about with punctuation rather horribly sometimes, too.
 
There was a group of students in one of my university classes having what sounded like a heated debate. I went over and asked them what they were doing because it didn't sound like the task I had sent. It turned out a male student told a female student she was 'cuter than before' and she looked at me, I looked at her, turned to the guy and told him to be careful who he says that to because they might take it the wrong way, and she laughed lol
 
Better words exist for calling females, Miss, Mrs, Madam and so on. So don't focus on cute because maybe using this expression frequently turns into a romantic sense gradually. When you met a Japanese put off you hat or helmet, bent you head a little and tell, hello madam (as it is done in the west). It is a good manner of meeting female instead of using cute word.
 
Just curious - Do many Japanese women use Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs.? (I agree, these are all better than cute!)
 
I've seen Japanese school teachers ask for their pupils to be called Miss when addressed In English. They also ask for male children to be called 'Mr' lol
 
Actually I've never met a Japanese person who's known 'Ms' without being explicitly taught it in an English class
 
It is totally normal for girls to call each other in a cute manner. In fact, it is a way to show affection.
 
Kinnexa said:
Just curious - Do many Japanese women use Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs.? (I agree, these are all better than cute!)
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I told something herein previously ( I had forgotten I wrote such the comment. Probably I wrote this for fun) but sadly am not familiar with the Japanese customs. But usually if cute word is expressed to a female by a strange man, it will have a sexual smell and it is better not to be used.
 
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