I don't think using the word is inherently creepy. There are obviously certain circumstantial usages in which it seems more appropriate. Someone above pointed out that his girlfriend can be, by turns, "adorable" and "sexy," and I would agree. However, I also think that, generally speaking, descriptors like "adorable" are predicated upon a sense of emotional intimacy and personality awareness that one is not privy to with celebrities. Maybe I'm wrong and most of the men who've developed a fixation on scantily clad female wrestlers and refer to them in adoring but asexual terminology are actually not sexually attracted to them, but I wouldn't assume that to be the case in the vast majority of situations.

And, while I do think the terminology has a weird ring to it, I don't even think that using it in the coded sense is necessarily creepy. It's more "weird" in the sense that it seems inappropriate given the relationship to the person in question. There's a backwards properness to it that sticks out. It's similar, albeit not entirely the same, as speaking to someone who'll constantly refer to "sex" as "making love." While I agree that there are moments where the phrase "making love" is appropriate and even called for, using it to describe sex between strangers or sex in general conspicuously ascribes a sense of familiarity to an act that is, in many cases, quite casual. Again, this largely done because of personal discomfort with the bluntness of the more honest phrasing.

I do think it would be perceived as creepy and unattractive by women - for whom the unwillingness to speak openly about attraction would appear more emasculating than the phrasing itself - but I, personally, think it's more a shame than anything. I'm not even suggesting the people who ARE sexually attracted to women and use words like "adorable" and "cute" in lieu of words like "hot" or whatever are creepy, just that they have unfairly censored themselves to accommodate a sense of chivalry that is unfairly stringent.

And, you're right. There may be some people who use these adjectives to express a vicarious connection with certain modes of traditionally feminine dress/behavior that they wish to, but are uncomfortable with, embracing for themselves. Obviously not the same. The same holds true with asexuals, of course, and various other groups of people whose motivations would be totally inconsistent with my post.

But, again, I was more speaking to trends and general usage. In most cases, you're dealing with heterosexual adult men who are describing women they don't know as "adorable." I'm sure there are any number of outlying reasons for this in particular circumstances, but I maintain that the prevailing reason is an impulse to express fondness for a woman's appearance while attempting to skirt admission of overt sexual attraction.

Which, again, isn't really creepy, so much as a shame. There's a fine line between imploring a stranger to brandish her nipples and just admitting you find an adult woman sexy or hot or whatever. Society has fooled some men into thinking the two are equally regressive and brutish, and that fosters a lot of this behavior. It's just a shame, is all.