H'mm. For some reason, "jolie laid" is the first response that comes to mind; a woman so "ugly" that she is beautiful.
When I use the word "ugly" myself it does tend to the bad. I find it springs to mind when someone is being particularly nasty, unkind, selfish, or mean.
Just now I took down my copy of the Pocket Oxford Dictionary to find this:
ugly (adj.) Unpleasing or repulsive to sight; morally repulsive, vile, unpleasantly suggestive, threatening; formidable antagonist; ugly duckling person who turns out the genius of the family after being thought the dullard
Yes, that'll do for definition(s).
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4 comments:
I wonder what unpleasantly suggestive means...
Probably very, very naughty...and not in a good way!
I had completely forgotten about that phrase... blocked it out, I imagine. Never having been a cool kid, I was considered plain even though, in retrospect, there was absolutely nothing below-5 about my appearance...even in my mother-implemented-mullet years. But I was a "smart girl," not a "pretty girl," and that status among class was just accepted by all, pretty much. I wasn't even considered the ugliest, I just sort of floated along.
Then we were in French class - again, "smart girl," so I was a year younger than the rest of the 11th-grade class and thus wasn't quite so firmly ingrained into that role, and at the same time even more so than usual, ain't high school grand?? - anyway, Mme. Feher somehow brought up this jolie laid concept in class. Within about 30 seconds of her earliest efforts to explain what it meant, heads started to turn... toward me.
It still aches. I've learned how to dress, learned that I was never as outwardly damaged as I thought I was, accepted that it was probably one of those things where one person looks for some other reason altogether, and then there's a cascade effect as everyone else turns to try and see what he sees... but still. Ugh.
Ah well. Things worked out OK in the long run, in terms of finding a life partner and creating gorgeous children, and I'm more comfortable in my skin now than I was then... which is saying a LOT, given my scars now... so I'll take what I've been given.
And now I've out-commented the original post, words-wise, haven't I? Sorry if I sort of post-jacked (is that a word?), but thanks for playing even when I couldn't.
I don't object at all. I'm glad that you like what I'm doing with all this, Kate.
But you, not pretty? You're lovely, I've seen plenty of photos! Did you classmates look at life through dirt-colored glasses?
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