# Do you call margarine butter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 30, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140 "2003-03-30T02:31:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![little\_lighthouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea666f/32.png) [@little\_lighthouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/little_lighthouse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/1 "2003-03-30T02:31:02Z")
In my household, we use margarine, but we call it butter, even though it’s margarine. Is this okay? Am I warping my children into thinking they’re eating butter when it’s really margarine? If they were to eat butter, can they tell tell the difference? Will they end up years later on the psychs couch because of this? ---
**Author:** ![little\_lighthouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ea666f/32.png) [@little\_lighthouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/little_lighthouse)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/2 "2003-03-30T02:32:09Z")
Sorry, they may end up on the psychs couch 'cuz they’re mom says tell tell!! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/3 "2003-03-30T02:34:05Z")
I can sure tell the difference. I love butter, to me margarine just won’t do. I Can’t Believe They Think This Tastes Like Butter™. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/4 "2003-03-30T02:37:58Z")
“butter” is a generic term in my house as well. It means butter sticks, margarine sticks, tub margarine, and spray not-even-close-to-butter stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/5 "2003-03-30T02:38:27Z")
I call margarine “margarine”. I call butter “butter”. I call a spade a “spade”. I always think of spades when I hear someone say, “I **spaded** my cat.” I have morbid thoughts, sometimes. (I hope **Q.E.D.** isn’t having coffee; just in case he has a morbid sense of humour.) I usually use margarine, but I like butter when I’m having fresh hot bread. ---
**Author:** ![Persephone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@Persephone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Persephone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/6 "2003-03-30T02:42:56Z")
Yep, I do. Always have. I think it’s because I’ve grown up eating margarine instead of butter. Taste-wise, margarine doesn’t suck. But yes, butter does taste better. Can’t beat that sweet-salty goodness. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/7 "2003-03-30T02:59:31Z")
Nope. It’s Oleo. Blame my mom. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/8 "2003-03-30T03:02:02Z")
No. I call butter “butter”. I call margarine “margarine” or “fake butter”, depending on my mood. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/9 "2003-03-30T03:02:56Z")
Margarine\* wants\* you to call it butter. It’s all part of its nefarious plot to dull the taste buds of Americans so much that future generations will be satisfied by congealed oil, and never know the joys of sweet creamy butter. By calling it “Butter” you’re aiding and abetting this. How could you??? \ [sub] obviously I call butter “butter” and margarine " a stick/tub of imitating crap".[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/10 "2003-03-30T03:03:25Z")
What? Do you call dogs cats? ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/11 "2003-03-30T03:07:11Z")
I call margarine butter, I call “vegetable spread” butter. But I only eat the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Harihat2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@Harihat2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harihat2)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/12 "2003-03-30T03:51:09Z")
Is there a really big difference between the two? To me, they’re both the same. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/13 "2003-03-30T04:22:12Z")
I use butter as a generic term for all butter-like spreads, because otherwise I’d have to check with particular item I’d bought that month: margarine, olive oil spreads, buttermilk margarine, etc. Also because you can ask someone if they want their toast buttered, but you can’t say ‘margarined.’ However, if I say butter for margarine, my GF always insists that she doesn’t want butter, even though she knows I never buy it (except very rarely for baking). I guess it’s like people in the Southern US calling all carbonated flavoured drinks ‘Coke.’ ---
**Author:** ![Heloise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e36b37/32.png) [@Heloise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heloise)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/14 "2003-03-30T04:40:14Z")
Blech. You should call butter “butter” and margarine “crap.” IMohsohumbleO. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ashkicker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Ashkicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashkicker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/15 "2003-03-30T04:56:57Z")
I call it all butter. I don’t think that you are warping your kids by calling it that either. I would however tell them what the difference is. Now you want to talk about warping your kids? I’ll tell you what my father did to me years ago. We had this big debate over what tasted better Promise (a fat free margarine) or Blue Bonnet (regular margarine). I insisted that BB tasted better and that I could tell the difference. So, I get up one morning. Get my toast ready and I am spreading the BB all over it. My dad is like so how’s the toast? Mmm. It was tasting good. The whole time my dad is trying not to laugh his a$$ off. He finally fessed up and tells me what he did. Do you know he had the nerve to take the wrapper off my BB and rewrap a stick of Promise in it. I was so mad I couldn’t see straight. Now that is what I call warping your children.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/16 "2003-03-30T06:12:22Z")
I like butter. I call butter ‘butter’. My roomate keeps margarine, so I’m very careful to refer to each of them only by the proper moniker. OTOH, at my parents’ house where the fridge contains only margarine except at Christmas, ‘butter’ and ‘margarine’ become interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![JayElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@JayElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayElle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/17 "2003-03-30T06:13:10Z")
I call all margarine “butter”, all soft drinks “Coke”, and all tissues “Kleenex”. I think **SciFiSam** may be right - it’s some sort of strange Southern habit. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/18 "2003-03-30T06:35:05Z")
I call margarine “maragarine.” My mother called it “butter.” My grandmother called it “oleo.” ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/19 "2003-03-30T07:38:40Z")
Ashkicker - at least your father won that round. My mother has never forgiven me for being able to tell the difference between butter and margarine when she tried that trick with me. She always called margarine butter, and had to be begged to buy real true butter for me. I didn’t want to eat margarine as I kid, and now that I’m all grown up I never ever have to… except on airplanes when it’s served along with a dry, dry roll. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140/20 "2003-03-30T13:11:22Z")
Margarine is to butter as Cool Whip (Non Dairy Whipped Topping - WTF?) is to whipped cream. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-call-margarine-butter/165140.md?page=2)