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Read Thread: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?

Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99990 by Booknut
Jun 14, 2007 7:28am
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"What are those?" (He would point to a bowl.) "Lima beans." *laughter* "No, boy, them's butterbeans!"

Going off subject here, sort of: Ok, I have always wondered why all Lima Beans are called Butter Beans in the south.....(at least that's my experience).

I grew up in the Great Lakes Region and we had Lima Beans which were small and light green. I loved them!!

Then we also ate Butter Beans....which I *know* are Lima Beans......and I LOVE them also!!!

So, actually, Butter Beans "is a term used for certain small, flat seeded lima beans. There is no separate botanical classification for a butterbean. It is basically a description of the way that they are prepared for cooking. Whereas most limas are grown to the dry stage, butterbeans are shelled fresh while in the late green stage, cooked and buttered."

So, to cure my curiosity, do Southerners call them Butter Beans because that is the way the utilize a Lima Bean? Are they not grown to the dry stage in the South? Are they only harvested fresh? Can someone who is Southern answer this?

With Peace,
6kiddiez
(who's curiosity has gotten the best of her on a subject that isn't important in the grand scheme of things but would still like to know anyway!!--you NEVER know when it might come up on a trivia question.....hmmmm I just got an idea for a virtual!)
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99970 by speedsquare
Jun 14, 2007 8:04am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote In the same vein, does anyone know why we call daddy-longlegs, daddy-longlegs


Because calling them mommy longlegs would make them feel like less of a man and more like an objectified woman?
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99994 by 6kiddiez
Jun 14, 2007 8:07am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote So, to cure my curiosity, do Southerners call them Butter Beans because that is the way the utilize a Lima Bean? Are they not grown to the dry stage in the South? Are they only harvested fresh? Can someone who is Southern answer this?


See, I thought butterbeans were what you called them when you got the white lima beans and lima beans were the smaller, green kind. Mom always made the green ones and she cooked them with bacon fat that she kept in a can by the stove (until we realized how unsanitary some traditions can be...!)

The S & H
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99668 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 8:16am
Thread (disabled) Board
Mine came up "100% Dixie. Is General Lee your grandfather?!" on both test. Are we kin folk Dixie? Born and raised in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee side.

The Woodwhittler
Re: another test (what does your vocabulary say about you?)
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99913 by Blooming Flower
Jun 14, 2007 8:29am
Thread (disabled) Board
But, then, if you asked me where Appalacia was, I wouldn't know.


strange thing about Appalachia is that it is really much further stretched than most folks realize.
when we say Appalachia most think of the mountains i live in...
the Blue Ridge mountains and the "Southern Highlands".
is where most typical Appalachian stereotypes or Appalachian music etc is from.
true Appalachia region stretches way "up north" though...
to Pennsylvania, Ohio and even New York...lots of people are completely unaware of this...
so again, usually when you hear it...it's referring to the mountains and "back country" of NC, TN, VA, KY etc.
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100003 by Sprite and Highlander
Jun 14, 2007 8:40am
Thread (disabled) Board
See, I thought butterbeans were what you called them when you got the white lima beans and lima beans were the smaller, green kind.

I *ALWAYS* thought they were two differnt varieties of Lima Beans.....but, s my researched turned up, they are the same thing.....

With Peace,
6kiddiez
Butterbeans (Was Re: Just what does your vocabulary )
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99994 by 6kiddiez
Jun 14, 2007 9:18am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote So, to cure my curiosity, do Southerners call them Butter Beans because that is the way the utilize a Lima Bean? Are they not grown to the dry stage in the South? Are they only harvested fresh? Can someone who is Southern answer this?


I have picked many a butter bean (butter PEA) actually and I am Southern. Therefore, I guess I qualify to answer. This may get long. :-)

My grandfather and mom always had gardens during my young years. The butterbeans were *always* picked green. Butterpeas are smaller and fatter (sweeter too). Any butterbeans that had dried on the plant were picked off and thrown away by my grandfather--usually with a scowl on his face.

The difference between butterbeans and lima beans is this for me. Lima beans, when cooked, end up with this creamy sort of bean broth all around them and the taste mealy and mushy. The liquid around butterbeans usually remains clear because the beans don't have the tendency to split while cooking.

I will eat limas but I dont' like 'em. I'll eat all the butterbeans or butterpeas anybody cares to give me!

Knit Wit
Butterbeans (Was Re: Just what does your vocabulary )
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100029 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 9:20am
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now when you say butterpeas is that the same thing as garden peas?
i only eat butterbeans :)
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99762 by dorks anonymous
Jun 14, 2007 9:30am
Thread (disabled) Board
That's funny - the only person of my friends who took this quiz and thought it to be inaccurate was another Minnesotan claiming not to have the typical accent described! Either you folks are in denial, or the quiz author really didn't get this one correct. :-D
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99668 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 9:30am
Thread (disabled) Board
I like this one better. (It's certainly more accurate in my case.)

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=take&quiz_id=9827
Butterbeans (Was Re: Just what does your vocabulary )
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100029 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 9:34am
Thread (disabled) Board
Ok, KnitWit, you've thrown another term into the mix.....agghhhhh!!! Butterpeas????

"The difference between butterbeans and lima beans is this for me. Lima beans, when cooked, end up with this creamy sort of bean broth all around them and the taste mealy and mushy. The liquid around butterbeans usually remains clear because the beans don't have the tendency to split while cooking."

Hmmmm....when we cook butterbeans, we usually end up with a creamy "sauce"--as a result of the mushier texture of butterbeans combined with the butter.......for me, what we call lima beans remain more solid with no sauce......

This is really interesting. As I said, I grew up in the Great Lakes Region but we now live in Lexington, KY. I haven't really figured out what to call Lexington.....is it Southern.....is it Northern? Is it Mid-Western? I think it's more of a transplant city than anything....but, the locals will say they are Southerners, which I always thought before I lived here. Now, a local once told me, (in a slow, drwaling Southern accent) "We like to fancy ourselves Southunuhs." And then, switching to a more northern accent, "But we're really not."

With Peace,
6kiddiez
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100033 by Otis' Friends
Jun 14, 2007 9:42am
Thread (disabled) Board
I took the quiz twice with different answers and got the same results, Midland.
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100032 by rozebud
Jun 14, 2007 9:47am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote the only person of my friends who took this quiz and thought it to be inaccurate was another Minnesotan claiming not to have the typical accent described!


Most Minnesotans really don't have an accent like those in Fargo. I've lived here 20 years and have only met a handful of people who genuinely sounded like that. That accent is specific to the Iron Range of Minnesota ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Range ). It's not far off from the "Yoopers" accent of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Just remember that television journalists used to be trained to have a Midwestern accent for a national audience. I don't know if it's still true, but the thought was that a Midwestern accent was "neutral." ;-}

-AG
Butterbeans (Was Re: Just what does your vocabulary )
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100030 by the pink dragon
Jun 14, 2007 10:29am
Thread (disabled) Board
Butterpeas look like butterbeans only they are smaller and fatter. I have no idea what garden peas are. I've never heard that one. :-)

Knit Wit
Butterbeans (Was Re: Just what does your vocabulary )
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100034 by 6kiddiez
Jun 14, 2007 10:36am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote when we cook butterbeans, we usually end up with a creamy "sauce"--as a result of the mushier texture of butterbeans combined with the butter


Hmm, that's odd. The only way I've ever known Southern butterbeans to end up with a creamy sauce is for the cook to take some of the cooked beans, mash them through a strainer, and add them back to the pot. When I cook butterpeas (not that confusing; they look just like butterbeans, but are smaller, fatter and firmer), I add water, salt and butter and cook them for about thirty minutes. The liquid remains clear and the peas don't split much.

I will state this though; if you cook butterbeans too long, there's not a whole lot of difference taste-wise between limas (as I know them) and the butterbeans. I do not like overcooked butterbeans! :-)

Knit Wit
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100033 by Otis' Friends
Jun 14, 2007 10:41am
Thread (disabled) Board
Ahhh, this one worked! Southern all the way!

Knit Wit
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99994 by 6kiddiez
Jun 14, 2007 10:47am
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ok...
now I feel confused.
I hate Lima beans (they are green) which i had never heard of or seen until i was in high school
but we did have butter beans...but they are NOT the same as Lima beans. Butter beans are the color of butter and smooth in texture. so if some folks here call Limas beans by the name of butter beans...then i didn't realize it cause there really are such things as butter beans. they are good...Limas are NASTY!

the store shelves even have cans of Limas and cans of Butter beans...2 different things
or...at least I always thought so...no wait...
yep, they're different. one's green and one's yellow.

just checking my faded, tired memory again

dixie
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100049 by Dixie
Jun 14, 2007 11:00am
Thread (disabled) Board
In Georgia, limas are the whitish-yellowish beans that are fairly large--sometimes as large as a quarter. Butterbeans are green and about the size of a thumbnail on a woman's finger; butterpeas are green and the size of the nail on a woman's index finger and plump.

Bi-Lo, where I shop, has cans of limas (whitish beans cooked with that creamy sauce *gag*) and butterbeans which are green and cooked in a clear liquid. Butterpeas might also be called "baby limas" in some areas but not by me.

The butterbeans that my granddad planted were Fordhook Limas, but we didn't grow 'em out til they dried on the stalk.

Hey, Dixie, you and I need to get together. You can bring your butterbeans and I'll bring mine and we'll compare notes. :-)

Knit wit
Smoky Mtn ancestry
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100010 by thewoodwhittler
Jun 14, 2007 11:12am
Thread (disabled) Board
Are we kin folk Dixie? Born and raised in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee side.


very possible...
my grandpa was born and lived in the Gatlinburg area until he was about 11. then they made the trip over the mountain (on old foot paths that were the closest things to roads across). they had moved because his pop was wanted by the law and had stretched his luck too long...he was wanted for making liquor. He was known by the nickname "pone" (another name for moonshine).
The old cabin that was the first white settlers cabin in Gatlinburg still stands. This was his 2nd great grandma and grandpa. family names were Ramsey, Ogle, Husky, among others.
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100017 by 6kiddiez
Jun 14, 2007 11:15am
Thread (disabled) Board
I *ALWAYS* thought they were two differnt varieties of Lima Beans.....but, s my researched turned up, they are the same thing.....


I still believe, and KNOW from taste...that Lima beans and Butter beans are 2 different things!
I hate lima beans but Butter beans are much nicer :)
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99668 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 11:22am
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92% Dixie heyah. What a shocker. And no, Lee isn't my grandfather cause my grandpa didn't come from Virginny. He's a Tarheel born and bred!

Hope
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100033 by Otis' Friends
Jun 14, 2007 11:23am
Thread (disabled) Board
Otis Friends, I liked this one too. It also verified what the first one did--I still largely speak like a Midlander--where I spent the first fourth of my life.

Amyrica
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100061 by hopeinnc
Jun 14, 2007 11:28am
Thread (disabled) Board
100% on the advanced test! I got even more Southern when the test got more advanced.

H
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100058 by Dixie
Jun 14, 2007 11:33am
Thread (disabled) Board
{{I still believe, and KNOW from taste...that Lima beans and Butter beans are 2 different things! I hate lima beans but Butter beans are much nicer :) }}

They do look and taste different, but they are technically from the same "lima bean" family, of which there are several varieties of size, including the butterpeas (my favorite). Many people from other areas of the country do not make the distinction between the mushy and yukky "regular" lima beans and the greenish, tastier butterbeans. They call them all lima beans. I think it has to do with whether they're picked green or not, as well as how they are cooked.

At least that's the way it is in my part of Georgia. I'm certainly no expert on all things Southern.

Booknut
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100037 by ArtGekko
Jun 14, 2007 12:04pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Most Minnesotans really don't have an accent like those in Fargo. I've lived here 20 years and have only met a handful of people who genuinely sounded like that. That accent is specific to the Iron Range of Minnesota ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Range ). It's not far off from the "Yoopers" accent of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.


Oh, you are shattering a dream!!!! Just after I saw Fargo (the movie), I had to call the sheriff's department in Fargo (the real city), to see if a civil summons had been served on the ex-spouse of a client. The very helpful lady I talked to had an accent just like the movie! I was thrilled - the movie was right, everyone really did talk like that - LOL!!!

Perhaps one of the people you've talked to was that lady at the Sheriff's department ;-))

Mama Fox
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100053 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 12:09pm
Thread (disabled) Board
*shaking head*

no....
Limas are green ;)
butter beans are the color of butter
(not the artificially colored margarine but real butter)

*nodding with a smile*
Re: appalachian words and ways
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #99861 by Sprite and Highlander
Jun 14, 2007 12:23pm
Thread (disabled) Board
My family is from Pennsylvania too, and our different eating times were
Breakfast
Dinner
Supper

We used to laugh at my grandmother all the time, telling her that it was LUNCH, not Dinner!!!
Re: appalachian words and ways
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100083 by Jaxx
Jun 14, 2007 12:29pm
Thread (disabled) Board
When I was growing up, it was lunch if it was an everyday meal at noon time and supper at night. Dinner was when you brought out the good china and silver and could be either at noon (Sunday dinner) or at night.

Knit Wit
Butterbeans (Was Re: Just what does your vocabulary )
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100044 by knit wit
Jun 14, 2007 12:49pm
Thread (disabled) Board
those bright green round peas. you know what that girl threw up in the exorcist
Re: Just what does your vocabulary say about you?
Board: Yakking It Up
Reply to: #100076 by Dixie
Jun 14, 2007 1:17pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Limas are green ;)
butter beans are the color of butter
(not the artificially colored margarine but real butter)


I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Here in Georgia where I grew up and where my folks have lived for generations, butterbeans and butterpeas are green. Limas are nasty and mushy and are lighter in color.

*also nodding and smiling*