Kommt halt drauf an, was du süßer findest - a 'bug' or a 'button' ;-)

Danke. Aber wieso heißt es eigentlich 'bug' und 'button'? Beides würde ich nicht unbedingt mit süß/niedlich in Verbindung bringen.
Welchen Ursprung haben diese Redewendungen?

@micha: Not sure, but some bugs (beetles) are cute - what about ladybirds, for example. Most people will find them "cute" in a way, or at least somewhat appealing. But I am only guessing.

I haven't a clue as to where the buttons come from, though. Maybe small = cute? I am not American, however, and assume that the saying is more common in AE.

micha, if it is any comfort to you, I think both of these expressions are dumb and I would never use them. I have no idea why buttons or bugs are supposed to be cute. They aren't. ;-) I am an AE speaker.
Please don't take the above comments seriously. Just my opinion.

War nicht "ein süßer Käfer" früher gebräuchlich? So in den 60'ern?

@Micha: Maybe you like "cute as a bug's ear" better?

I think what all three expressions have in common is that the items are small, which is why "cute as a bug's ear" is even cuter. It's smaller, after all. The connection is that small things are cute: kittens (a small cat), kids (a small person). I don't know if wpr is a woman, but I suspect that all of these expressions would tend to be used more by women. As a female AE speaker, I don't have a problem with any of them, though it's not like I go around using them daily. But if I saw a friend's baby for the first time, maybe I would say he was cute as a button. The expressions are perfectly fine in colloquial speech.

man sagt ja auch im Deutschen "süßer Knopf" zu einem niedlichen Kleinkind

The key to the issue is that it is not the button on a shirt that is meant here, but a flower bud seen in the popular name of small flowers, such as bachelor's button (q.v. "button" (n) in the OED, meanings 2 and 3).
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/41/m...

@Amy-MiMi: bingo, I'm a guy! Caught me red-handed! Hence my dislike for these expressions. ;-)
Could "cute as a bug" be some reference to the VW Bug? Both of these expressions sound old-fashioned to me, I'd say 1950s or 60s. And after all, the VW Bug was extremely cute. Just a guess.

I thought the expression was "snug as a bug in a rug" - that's what my mother used to say (but meaning "snug" of course). With cute, I'd say "cute as a button" is more familiar, though I don't think I've ever used it myself.

@Mary: No, "snug as a bug in a rug" is another saying, not mutually exclusive to "cute as a bug". In my family we said both "cute as a bug's ear" and "snug as a bug in a rug".

I just wish I could remember whether it was an exclusively female thing, or whether the men in my family also allowed "cute as a bug's ear" to cross their otherwise masculine lips. *wink at wpr*