Cute as a bug's ear

Posted by Shae on October 09, 2002

In Reply to: Cute as a bug's ear posted by R. Berg on October 08, 2002

: : : I need to know if this is a regional saying, or if others have heard it used outside of the southeastern U.S.

: : This doesn't have anything about the region. But I'll look in other references and post again if I find something more specific.

: : CUTE AS A BUTTON - "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: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1992.)

: Not limited to the Southeast; heard on West Coast too.

"Snug as a bug in a rug" is used in Ireland to describe cozy comfort.

• Snug as a bug ESC 10/09/02