“Look” vs. “Are”

Has anyone ever said to you, “You look pretty today.”?

How about “You are pretty.”?

Did you notice a difference there?

You are pretty. You look pretty.

It may just be one verb, but I think its meaning is pretty significant.

(Or maybe I just over analyze everything.) Probably.

This is what I hear.  (And I have been accused of reading too much into things on an occasion or two. Or sixteen hundred.)

“You are pretty.” I think the are implies a state of being. A state of permanence. You ARE pretty. It is part of you. You are. You cannot help it. You had little to do with it – thank your parents and their genetic combination. You ARE pretty. You just are.

But

“You look pretty” is entirely different.

It implies something that is fleeting, momentary – you appear right now to be pretty. It has not always been so. It will not always be so. But right now, for this moment, you look pretty.  Maybe it’s your make up or the eight hours of uninterrupted sleep you got last night but somehow, against all odds and against fate itself, today, right now, you look pretty.

Frequently said almost as if in surprise, “Wow – you look pretty.”   As in . . .  I saw you yesterday and that statement could not have been made, but today – well, your apprearance is neither disturbing nor frightening.  You look pretty.

Um. Thank you.