Written by Megha Kalokhe
If you asked anyone about words I say to often, particularly members of the bookworm team, the answer would come quickly and easily, ‘damn cute.’ It’s involuntary, a force of habit that has developed from all the times that I was presented with a particular situation or person, and I was unable to perfectly articulate my feelings at the time. Feelings of happiness, of course.
It brings to mind a scene from a movie, ‘Despicable Me,’ where one of the young girls, Agnes, sees a toy unicorn she likes, and overwhelmed with her feelings for it, she says, ‘It’s so fluffy, I could die.’ To me, my ‘damn cute,’ is said in similar distressing times. When I am so overcome by how nice something is, ‘damn cute’ is my reflex.
Today, if I happen to come across one of our MOP or LIS children, and they say ‘hi’ to me, with more happiness than anyone else in my life ever has, I would say ‘damn cute.’ To me, this is adorable, it’s endearing that they are so innocent and so naïve and despite sometimes the difficult backgrounds they come from, the world is a happy, beautiful place. How is it anything BUT cute?
I am unable to find another word to replace ‘cute,’ and when I want to be more forceful, ‘damn cute,’ it is such a succinct way to describe my feelings. Maybe the next time you come to the library, and hear me say ‘damn cute,’ maybe once, maybe twice, maybe much more than that, you will now know what it means!
