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."
Posted by Conjure Lass on :
*raises eyebrow*
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.
Posted by Exnihil on :
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!
Posted by Eryk Davis Ester on :
I don't think I've ever heard of this either.
Posted by Exnihil on :
Admittedly, I did grow up in farm country. Perhaps it's just a thing that bored country kids did.
Posted by Conjure Lass on :
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
Posted by Set on :
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!)
Posted by Blockade Boy on :
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.
Posted by Quislet, Esq on :
I did it in Suburbia. We used buttercups and dandelions.
Posted by Set on :
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!
Posted by Fat Cramer on :
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.
Posted by Leap Year Lord on :
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.
Posted by Leap Year Lord on :
quote:Originally posted by Blockade Boy:
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.
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.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
quote:Originally posted by Quislet, Esq: I did it in Suburbia. We used buttercups and dandelions.
Same here on all accounts.
Posted by Blockade Boy on :
I'd heard of putting dandelions in salad, never tried. Flower, stalk and all?
quote:Originally posted by Leap Year Lord:
quote:Originally posted by Blockade Boy:
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.
I'd be popping those things and stepping on every crack I could find. Mommy issues, lol.
Buttercups:
Okay, I'm from Toledo and Detroit has chimed in. Maybe it's a regional thing or an ethnic thing. Mostly Eastern Europeans and Germans around here.
Posted by Quislet, Esq on :
Back when I was younger there was a show called "It's About Time" and the theme song started off "It's about time. It's about space". So we would hold the other kid's arm out and make chop mark up their arm with your hand, singing "It's about time. It's about space. It's about time for a slap in the face" and then hit their cheek with the back of your hand.
Posted by lancesrealm on :
I am 47. I grew up in Indiana and we did this with dandelions. I never gave it a second thought until now. *sigh* Now I am gonna lie here and hope the sour cream inquisitor doesn't come a'knockin'...
Posted by Legion Tracker on :
quote:Originally posted by Quislet, Esq: I did it in Suburbia. We used buttercups and dandelions.
Yep, I remember doing that.
Posted by Viridis Lament on :
quote:Originally posted by Exnihil: Admittedly, I did grow up in farm country. Perhaps it's just a thing that bored country kids did.
I remember doing this as a kid in Newfoundland as well
Posted by Pov on :
Yeah, Cobie's right, we did it here in CT as well, although I was never really sure what the significance was with the buttercups. But my chin always shone yellow and I liked butter!
And I taught my niece the dandelion thing before she could even talk. She LAUGHED and LAUGHED... Posted by cleome46 on :
Suburban New Jersey checking in to say this was a thing there, too.
[ December 06, 2012, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: cleome46 ]
Posted by lancesrealm on :
Just for the record, if you hold a dandelion very close to anyone's skin - especially in the summer, when there are many dandelions and children are likely to be sweaty - it reflects the yellowinsh hue. I guess that means if you have skin, you like butter...
Posted by Pov on :
To update this for the New Millenium: "Snooki had a wookie and its head popped off!" Posted by Faraway Lad on :
We used to do that as Kids as well. Never figured out it was for stealing a Kiss though.
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