What are your thoughts on people abusing/overusing the word “cute”?

Over time, this has really become a problem for me. I’m a young adult woman with several friends who overuse the word “cute” to the point that I can’t stand hearing it. It’ll be at least once a call. And the worst part is that it’s not being used correctly at all, for it’s intended meaning. I could be like “I went to this amazing event with a friend I hadn’t seen in months” and have to sit through “CUUUUUUUTE”. Nothing about it is cute. Dogs are cute. Fuzzy pom poms can be cute. A cute guy? Hell yeah he cute. But girls like to say it in a way or tone that is just plain condescending or a random filler word. Cut the bullshit. Issue: I can’t say this directly because I’m “nice”. This same friend (in fact, my best friend of over 15 years, which makes it worse) even knows that I had a fallout with someone who would say “cute” in that same pretentious tone (there were bigger reasons too like she told me to my face she hates my hometown and canceled on her plans to visit me last minute), yet she still keeps saying it. Granted, I gave her the wrong idea because I said it’s ok when she says it as a compliment. But it’s not ok anymore because it’s a trigger and it’s hard to believe she genuinely means it as a compliment. How do I give her the message without hurting our friendship? We’re both passive aggressive, conflict avoidant. It’s come to the point that I dread our calls, I’ve started saying “cute” to her and she replies “that’s so funny” sarcastically without laughing…I’ve tried deflecting her “cute” by saying “I think it’s sophisticated/classy” which I feel like she picks up on but ignores. It bothers me bc she doesn’t seem to take me seriously nor respects me. Should I just tell her straight up? Should I be like wow do ppl still say cute or say that word is so overused? Should I just take it with a grain of salt? Does it bother anyone else too? Thank you.