i went from ashy to nasty to classy, and still... words like "elegant," "graceful" and "classy" are used to describe people far too infrequently. is this because there's a shortage of elegant, graceful and classy people out there? quite possibly. how many of your peers would you assign any of these attributes to? when we describe elegant and graceful we're more often talking about buildings, objects, decorations, and things -- rarely people. and who among us could be construed as classy?



usually when i hear elegant and graceful, i think of girls. men aren't really particularly elegant or graceful. directed towards a woman, it makes me think of long clean lines, non-trashy attire and a sense of exquisite style. and slim wrists. for some reason i feel like you can pull of elegant and graceful better when you have slim wrists. someone refute me on this if they can.



basically i think of hollywood when i hear elegant and graceful because that's all i ever see the words used in conjunction with, starlets at awards ceremonies. can you be elegant and graceful in sweats and a t-shirt? yes, because gwyneth could certainly pull it off. as well as nicole. so it's obviously a person's aura that makes them elegant. however, the right clothes can make an inelegant person elegant, but it cannot make them graceful.



grace is just something you have. the way you walk, the way you hold your hands, the way you sit, maybe even the way you talk. it's similar to being lady-like but not exactly. you basically just ooze breeding and refinement. that's grace.



grace is a trait, elegant is a look. and classy? classy is an action. for guys, it's being a classy competitor, a classy loser, a class act. what does that mean? that they conduct themselves well? that they carry themselves with a certain aplomb? that they know the right things to say and when to say them? something like that i suppose. classy is also about tastes to an extent. if you're above mcdonald's and denny's you might be classy -- or just stuck up. maybe more the latter.



is age a factor in finding graceful, elegant and classy people? i think so. most kids -- anyone under the age of thirty -- don't really have the experience (if that is even the right word) to pull off classy. grace is in-born so you're either hit or miss with that one. elegance you can temporarily fake. but classiness, i think, has to come hand in hand with some maturity, and we all know how long that takes to acquire.



actually, i think i'm totally mucking up the definitions for each term. i'll have to keep my eyes out for elegant, graceful and classy people before i can categorize it all. oh well, back to staring.