-
I think it's new usage, my daughter uses it like your second example and I assume has picked it up from tiktok and other youths
-
Just typed out a long response and then my phone died and I lost it, lol.
But here goes again! It’s both an adjective and noun, if that helps.
So, both “x is aesthetic” and “x has an aesthetic”
Like “x is smelly” and “x has a smell”.Say there was some really cool cutlery in a restaurant you were at. You might observe that the interesting design choices like shape and colour mean that “this cutlery has an amazing aesthetic” or you could pick up the fork and be like “this fork is so aesthetic”
But when someone says “I started being aesthetic” it’s essentially saying “I started looking cool” but it infers that they’re trying to embody an attitude promoting aesthetics in their lifestyle, which is a fancy way of saying “looking cool, buying cool things, acting cool” etc etc.
I hope that makes a little bit of sense, as I’m neither hip or articulate enough to explain it very well.
-
I'd previously understood it to refer the visual properties of a thing
While that is how it is most used, it can refer to any sensation. How something feels, sounds, tastes or smells are all aesthetic qualities.
I keep seeing people refer to things as aesthetic, e.g "that's aesthetic" or "how I became aesthetic"
Presumably people who don't speak English. I imagine they meant "that's aesthetically pleasing" or "how I became an aesthete". Lazy or ignorant people often misuse English in such ways and are rightly derided, right up until the point where we all do it and people who even draw attention to the change of use are derided as pompous and pedantic retrogrouches 🙂
-
You are confusing aesthetic with
a * e * s * t * h * e * t * i * c- it's confusing, as they are pronounced similarly.
You are reading a single comment by @tyeness and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
greentricky
Nef
gbj_tester
chez_jay
@tyeness
Have I been misusing the word "aesthetic" all my life, or has it changed a bit?
I'd previously understood it to refer the visual properties of a thing - something could be aesthetically pleasing or not, or have positive or negative aesthetics.
However I keep seeing people refer to things as aesthetic, e.g "that's aesthetic" or "how I became aesthetic".
Am I daft or is that sort of thing a new use of the word? The second example seems equivalent to saying something like "how I became height".
Edit to add I do not think these people are confusing aesthetic with ascetic.