posted
I saw a reference online recently to something I had forgotten about from childhood.
Remember that thing where you would hold a buttercup beneath someone's chin to see whether they... liked butter?
I never thought of what a strange thing that is to test for. It's not as if "liking butter" is something that someone would lie about.
The whole thing just strikes me as some sort of kid version of the Salem witch trials. A Dairy Inquisition or something.
"No, I swear I like butter."
"Your chin says differently, Goody Goodwyfe."
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Registered: Feb 2008
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I have...never heard of this before in all my life. The only thing I remembering doing as a child was licking the nectar from the honeysuckle. I don't quite think I understand how this test was meant to work? Would it reflect off their chin? Make their skin yellow?
How cute is that? CUUUUTE.
From: St. Louis, Missouri | Registered: Sep 2012
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posted
Yeah, it would reflect yellow... supposedly the "positive indicator" for butter preference, but... looking at this image:
I think maybe I just had an "a-ha" moment.
I just realized the whole thing was probably just a rural ruse to steal a kiss. D'oh! I wish I'd realized that when I was a kid!
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Eryk Davis Ester
Created from the Cosmic Legends of the Universe!
posted
I don't think I've ever heard of this either.
From: Liberty City | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
Admittedly, I did grow up in farm country. Perhaps it's just a thing that bored country kids did.
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posted
AWWWWW! How ~adddooorrraabbbllleee~! I would happily have a kiss stolen this way. And all that time you were actually testing for butter and little did you know that you could have been getting little kisses.
Try it as an adult and see how that works for you! LOL
From: St. Louis, Missouri | Registered: Sep 2012
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Conjure Lass: The only thing I remembering doing as a child was licking the nectar from the honeysuckle.
Also works with clover. Pick the little pink petals off the puffy flower during the right time of year and they each have a little drop of sugary nectar in them. Perfect for already hyperactive children who are taste-tasting everything they can get their hands on anyway...
As for the buttercup thing, never heard of it. Buttercups are poisonous, IIRC, so probably not the sort of thing one wants to encourage little kids to play around with.
(Plenty of other flowers are edible, after all!)
Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
LOL this thread helps me to understand just how poor our neighborhood was.
We didn't use "buttercups." We used dandelions. We also used them to "pop ma's head off." I can't remember the rhyme that goes with it.
From: East Toledo | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I did it in Suburbia. We used buttercups and dandelions.
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From: Boston | Registered: Aug 2003
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There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
quote:Originally posted by Blockade Boy: LOL this thread helps me to understand just how poor our neighborhood was.
We didn't use "buttercups." We used dandelions.
Ha, we were so poor that we ate dandelions! As in dandelion salad. (The ones with the reddish color to the veins and stalks taste better.) Clean 'em off, throw them in a bowl, toss in a little oil and vinegar and it's good to go!
Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
We did the buttercup thing, but I really don't remember seeing any yellow reflection - and we all happily ate mounds of butter. Maybe our chins were too grimy.
Didn't eat dandelions until I was grown-up. Now it's fashionable, at least in certain circles, like lobster used to just be for poor people.
I recall someone trying the buttercup thing when I was a kid, and maybe someone subbing in a dandelion. I also remember kids trying (unsuccessfully) to twine together dandelions a la a daisy garland. If you wanted serious chains, though, you'd go to the park bleachers and collect soda can pull tabs.
Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Exnihil: Admittedly, I did grow up in farm country. Perhaps it's just a thing that bored country kids did.
Nah. Grew up in the Detroit suburbs and we did it as well. I think it might be a little generational thing that has slowly faded from the general consciousness.
From: Turn around... | Registered: Jul 2003
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