Much of our everyday language—in the form of idioms, clichés, or metaphors—makes reference to textiles. Using these phrases, we weave stories, spin tales, and thread narratives. But where do these expressions come from, and what do they mean?
In a blog series posted on intermittent Mondays, we will be unpacking textile-related idioms. Stay tuned to learn their metaphorical and historical meanings.
In honor of National Button Day on November 16th, this week’s textile idiom is “cute as a button.” This idiom was frustratingly hard to pin down– no one seems to know when or where it originated or even the first time it appeared in print. According to 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), “cute as a button” and its close relatives “cute as a bug’s ear” and “cute as a bug in a rug” all emerged in the 1930s through mid 1940s.
According to Flexner, “cute as a button” originally referred not to the object we may think of as a button—which is typically made from wood, plastic, metal, or bone—but rather to a buttonhole adornment on a man’s suit, such as a flower bud.
Keep an eye out for the history of buttons (and some looks at our object collection) on the sixteenth!
