What a lovely word is ‘ogle’ – do people use it these days? I don’t think I was ever on the receiving end of any ogling, but I’ve done plenty in my time and sssh, don’t tell anyone, but i still do!
Ogle means to look at someone or something in an interested and maybe desirous way. So for example, woman looking out of a bus window might see a man who looks good and she gives him a bit of an ogle… I think of it as something essentially innocent, not creepy or nasty… for ogling a doughnut in a shop window would be totally innocent and not unpleasant at all. I dare say if the ogler is doing some inappropriate ogling, of a person too young or too old, or if there is something unpleasant about the ogle, then maybe it is not so innocent… but I would think of that sort of look to be more of a leer than an ogle. I don’t think ogling implies any intention to do anything other than just look at and admire!
One definition suggests it is flirtatious, amorous or impertinent looking at someone… looking at a doughnut flirtatiously, hmmm… well, maybe, especially if you are on or have just finished a diet. perhaps it originates from the Low German Perhaps from Low German,oghelen, meaning to eye, because oghe/oge, means an eye. The first recorded use of it was in 1682, but it also may have come from the Dutch, as so many of our words do.
So, I think there is nothing wrong with an ogle… and in fact many of my stories have been inspired by a surreptitious ogle!
Lois Elsden 
It seems that it’s a pretty grey area between an ogle and a leer. The only way to find out would be to read the mind of the oglee, ogler or oglist. I think I invented some new adjectives!
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I think you have!
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In my area, ogling is seen as negative and unwanted. It’s funny how different places have different feelings towards the same words.
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I think some people think of it as that, but maybe its because it is a comical sounding word that to me it isn’t too horrible… as long as the ogler doesn’t move on to something else!!
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