# Is it insulting to call a woman 'hatchet faced?" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 15, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302 "2009-12-15T02:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/21 "2009-12-15T15:12:34Z")
Considering the film _Cry-Baby_ has a character named Hatchet Face who is exceedingly ugly, yeah, I’d say it’s considered an insult. I’ve never heard it used to compliment anyone. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/22 "2009-12-15T15:19:33Z")
I never thought of it in purely physical terms, but also in attitude–she’s unforgiving and steely (there’s that literal-mindedness again), accepts no excuses, harsh. But I may have been conflating hatchet-faced and battle-axe. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/23 "2009-12-15T15:42:47Z")
Just for future reference if you are referring to a porn star or other person/place/thing that may not be an appropriate thing to search for at work perhaps you could label it NSFW. That way my boss won’t think I am looking for porn stuff at work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/24 "2009-12-15T22:49:26Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > It makes me think of the character in the John Waters’ film “Cry Baby.” I think it was a running gag (or happened at least 1x) that people were saying that it was a shame about her face and she was all, “I’ve got character.” > [@StoutHearted](#): > > Considering the film _Cry-Baby_ has a character named Hatchet Face who is exceedingly ugly, yeah, I’d say it’s considered an insult. I’ve never heard it used to compliment anyone. I was thinking about her too. In _Cry Baby_ the girl called Hatchet Face is apparently so named because it looks like she’s been hit in the face with a hatchet. Her face isn’t thin, it’s actually rather full and round, with unfortunately twisted/lopsided features. In the movie “Hatchet Face” pretty clearly meant not just ordinary ugly, but so ugly that one might think the woman had suffered a disfiguring accident. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/25 "2009-12-15T23:34:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Putting anything in front of “faced” is almost guaranteed to be perceived as an insult. The least offensive I can come up with is shitfaced. Fresh faced? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/26 "2009-12-16T00:32:23Z")
If you wanted to convey the look without being insulting, and also describe the person as attractive, go with something like, “She has a pretty face with sharp features.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/27 "2009-12-16T06:04:30Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Babyfaced? > [@Cazzle](#): > > Fresh faced? I knew just by making that comment, people would come up with something. I’ve never heard of the latter, and I usually hear the former used a slight insult, implying on a male that he isn’t manly enough to grow a beard, and on a female, implying her face is still full of babyfat. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/28 "2009-12-16T07:48:50Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I knew just by making that comment, people would come up with something. I’ve never heard of the latter, and I usually hear the former used a slight insult, implying on a male that he isn’t manly enough to grow a beard, and on a female, implying her face is still full of babyfat. Both mean youthful-looking. [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/baby-faced](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/baby-faced) [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fresh-faced](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fresh-faced) Nice crowd you hang out with, where baby-faced is repurposed as an insult. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/29 "2009-12-16T08:53:34Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > Both mean youthful-looking. > > [Baby-faced - definition of baby-faced by The Free Dictionary](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/baby-faced) > [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fresh-faced](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fresh-faced) > > Nice crowd you hang out with, where baby-faced is repurposed as an insult. I’m not exactly sure why you felt the need to insult me and my friends because we use a word differently than you do. And it’s not like it’s that strange: have you not seen the old Gillette commercial where a private is called baby-faced because he apparently doesn’t have to shave? Have you not seen the Star Trek TNG episode where Riker says he grew a beard because he was tired of being called Ensign Babyface? As for the women, a lot of it has to do with the fact that we don’t find having a face that resembles a baby to be attractive. Maybe you do. Should I make fun of you? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/30 "2009-12-16T19:04:46Z")
In [the song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Face_(1926_song)), “baby face” is certainly meant as a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/31 "2009-12-16T19:14:39Z")
To answer the OP: Yes, most definitely. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/32 "2009-12-16T20:06:00Z")
Hatchet faced to me means “face like an axe being thrown at you”. That is, very sharp, regal features. See how I did that? The second one sounds like a compliment. Hatchet-faced is not a nice thing to say… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/33 "2009-12-16T20:33:14Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Hatchet faced to me means “face like an axe being thrown at you”. That is, very sharp, regal features. See how I did that? The second one sounds like a compliment. > > Hatchet-faced is not a nice thing to say… Regal, I like that. I think the problem comes when you use sharp. Sharp can go either way. I mean, a sharp tone of voice, especially from a woman, often makes people think shrewish. But being a sharp dresser is good. And sharp features sound well defined. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/34 "2009-12-16T21:10:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I knew just by making that comment, people would come up with something. I’ve never heard of the latter, and I usually hear the former used a slight insult, “Baby face” is pretty much neutral and isn’t generally considered an insult by most people. It just means looking really youthful. Noah Wiley from the TV show _ER_ was called “baby-faced” and “doe-eyed”, and “sexy”. True, some guys, like Commander Riker, don’t like being called baby-faced so much if it means having a hard time being taken seriously because they look too young to be authoritative. And yeah, beardless Riker was baby-faced: he had the big blue eyes and round cheeks. A friend our ours is baby faced. She bears a striking resemblance to her five year old daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/35 "2009-12-16T21:14:51Z")
I didn’t think of beardless Riker as baby-faced. I guess mostly just weird because when I saw my first season 1 ep of TNG I’d only seen him as bearded before. His face looked too thin without the beard to me. Like when you give your fluffy dog a bath and he looks all rat like. I googled for him beardless and he does look a bit babyfaced. In any event, the beard really suits him. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302/36 "2009-12-17T02:35:34Z")
[QUOTE=handsomeharry] Is it insulting to call a woman 'hatchet faced?" [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t like it, but why don’t you just axe her? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-insulting-to-call-a-woman-hatchet-faced/521302.md?page=1)