----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Yan" <tyan at twcny.rr.com> To: <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Sunday, June 16, 2002 2:16 PM Subject: [Issola] Cute > (I've been reread Cherryh's _Cyteen_, which, among other things, has > characters who are very good at reading body language and controlling > their own, in part because they do things like practice being cute by > watching themselves in videos and in the mirror....) > > How well do the races in the Dragaeran novels understand and > experience the concept of "cute"? > > *** Spoilers for Issola *** > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I guess we know very little about Serioli, and Vlad doesn't even > understand their body language, so who knows how they stand with > "cute". > > Easterners appear to be pretty much the same as we are now, so they > grok it good, e.g. Vlad watching Loiosh and Rocza (p216). > > Given Dragaeran's lineage, it wouldn't be surprising if they had many > of our hard-wired responses, e.g. "big head and big eyes on a small > body = cute". But although Teldra uses the word cute (p155), and > Morrolan and Aliera don't like being called cute (unlike Loish, "I > *am* cute" :), it seems like cute for them is an intellectual concept, > not an emotional response. So I don't know. I think you're reading too much into this. Morrolan wears black and is a big bad witch living in Castle Black; Aliera is ... well, she's an e'Kieron, both of them have devoted their lives to being antithetical to 'cute'. I think even to us cute is both an intellectual concept and an emotional resonse. Humans contrive to be 'cute' or its opposite all the time. > The Jenoine seem rather unemotional. Sure, they are said to hate > Verra and be jealous of the gods, but that seems to me like a cold > passion, not a hot fire. So Telda saying the Jenoine think they > (Vlad, Morrolan, Aliera, Teldra) are cute (p155), particularly strikes > me as Jenoine regarding "cute" as an intellectual concept, not an > emotional response. Plus, Teldra may have been translating a Jenoine > concept into Dragaeran/Easterner terms, which is another further remove. I don't see the Jenoine being 'jealous' of the gods. I see them more as laboratory researchers being frustrated because the mice won't come out of their cages. My cats sometimes refuse to come out from under the bed and while they look so stubborn and cute under there, they still make me feel frustrated. > Tangent: Hell, what would a Jenoine joke be -- assuming they have a > sense of humor?! Question: Why did the Jenoine cross the road? Answer: It didn't, it only looks that way. Question: How many Jenoine does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: None or all, the light bulb was changed tomorrow.