# Does anyone like message hearts? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092 "2004-10-25T19:07:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/1 "2004-10-25T19:07:34Z")
You know, the Valentine’s Day candies that say “U R A Q-T” or whatever. Mr. Rilch will not put one in his mouth. I used to hand them out to people on V-Day, but stopped when I realized most were taking them just to be polite. Still, even if you don’t want to eat them, they’re fun to use to make beat poetry (“DIG ME” “I’M SAD” “YOU DOLL”), or to use as projectiles. But I’m hooked on them! The sugar ones, I mean, not the tart ones. I love the taste **and** the aftertaste (which Mr. Rilch says is the **worst** aspect). Does anyone besides me actually eat them, sweet or tart? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/2 "2004-10-25T19:21:08Z")
I think Futurama said it best: Lurr: “Blech! These candies are chalky and unpleasant!” Wife: “And what is this emotion you humans call ‘wuv’?” Lurr: “Surely it says ‘love’.” Wife: “No, ‘wuv’! With an Earth ‘w’. Behold!” Lurr: “This concept of ‘wuv’ confuses and infuriates us!” ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/3 "2004-10-25T19:24:41Z")
My kids sort of like them, if there is any better candy around. For myself, I would be sad to see them go, but I’d have to be pretty hungry to eat one. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/4 "2004-10-25T19:59:26Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I think Futurama said it best: > Lurr: “Blech! These candies are chalky and unpleasant!” > Wife: “And what is this emotion you humans call ‘wuv’?” > Lurr: “Surely it says ‘love’.” > Wife: “No, ‘wuv’! With an Earth ‘w’. Behold!” > Lurr: “This concept of ‘wuv’ confuses and infuriates us!” Yeah, and as I recall, Fry, the junk-food junkie, was scarfing them down as they were floating loose in the ship, and even he was saying “Bleh!” between each gulp. But I don’t find them chalky. Mr. Rilch says they’re just pure sugar, and that is precisely what I like about them. Different colors have slightly different flavors; the pinks are my favorite. And hey, at least there’s one candy that I don’t have to fend him off from! ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/5 "2004-10-25T20:00:24Z")
I LOVE those things! Send them all to me! Those hearts are the best part of February. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/6 "2004-10-25T20:23:57Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Does anyone besides me actually eat them, sweet or tart? I eat the tart ones. The sweet ones taste like Tums to me. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/7 "2004-10-25T20:36:44Z")
The best thing I can say about them is that they taste better than Necco wafers. And that’s not saying much. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/8 "2004-10-25T20:37:08Z")
I love them. I love them so much that apparently I was the only person in the world to notice when they stopped making the softer chewier kind and now you can only get the harder kind. The “tart” ones do not count. I buy these for myself every year. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/9 "2004-10-25T20:38:18Z")
Disgusting! Anyone who would eat one of those things probably eats candy corn and circus peanuts and butter mints. Gee, there’s a lot of candy I don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/10 "2004-10-25T20:47:04Z")
Not into circus peanuts, but I enjoy candy corn, butter mints and Necco wafers. You don’t like 'em? More for me, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/11 "2004-10-25T22:54:17Z")
Hate them. Chalky and medicinal and overly sweet with no apparent relation to any flavor ever found in mom nature’s bountiful garden, ick. **Dung Beetle** ’s got it exactly right, well if butter mints are what I think they are…those pillow-shaped powdery mints you always see at baby showers, right? The only acceptable candy corn consumption is when it’s mixed with salted peanuts and chocolate candies to create a payday/baby ruth type trail mix. Mmm. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/12 "2004-10-25T23:04:11Z")
Love them. Tart or sweet, either is good. But then again, I don’t there’s any candy I _won’t_ eat. (Yes, I eat candy corn, and those sugar pumpkins, and circus peanuts, etc. One of the things I love but many people freak out when I eat it is Turkish Delights (chocolate covered purple goo of some sort). I had a friend who married a man from the Phillipines… she once tried to be romantic by scattering the little love hearts all over their bed. He picked one up and read it, and asked her “What are these?” She says “They’re candy, you eat them.” He takes a tentative bite with his front teeth… the heart won’t break under this little bit of pressure, and he takes it out and hands it back to her, saying, “These are not candy! You do not eat these! These are ceramic.” She kept insisting they were edible, so eventually, he just gathered them all up and stored them in the refridgerator. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/13 "2004-10-26T00:47:07Z")
Don’t really care for them, at least the classic ones. And this is from a person who _likes_ Tums. There’s some new sort of Tums being advertised, that says something along the lines of “just as effective as old Tums, but without the chalky taste.” Man, the chalky taste is my favorite part! But back to the conversation hearts (that’s what I’ve always called them), they’re not sweet enough to be to be good, and not chalky enough to be … well, chalky. So thumbs down. The tart ones, the ones that I think are just SweetTarts in the shape of hearts, are good, but I don’t think of them as _real_ conversation hearts. At a recent convention of another internet group I belong to, one of the favors was boxes of the (tart) hearts with inside jokes from our message board printed on them. (so think things like “Og Smash” or “Hi, Opal” in the case of the SDMB) Everyone thought these were extremely cute favors, I hadn’t realized you could special order the messages. This is one of those candies that in my experience, most people don’t like them, but people who do like them like them A LOT. So go ahead and put them out, for people who like them, I’m sure it’s very exciting. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/14 "2004-10-26T02:55:52Z")
Ooooh I love the sweet ones! GIMME! And yes I like candy corn too but I despise those circus peanut things, bleh. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/15 "2004-10-26T03:09:36Z")
I love 'em! I just wish they’d make them with insults, like, “You Suck” and “Bite Me.” ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/16 "2004-10-26T05:42:03Z")
The candy hearts they make in Holland are far superior to the U.S. hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/17 "2004-10-26T06:14:21Z")
I’d love them except they’re _too damn hard_. They hurt my teeth. But I love their medicinal, odd flavor. Like Pepto-Bismol. Man, I love Pepto-Bismol. I love all them faintly herbal sorts of things - wintergreen, licorice, hell - it’s an emotional struggle to stop myself from seeing what Pine-Sol tastes like. Just this once. It just smells so good. Delicious, anyhow. Same for Necco Wafers. But yeah, I can see that my tastes might not be exactly conventional. No, Excalibre, Pine-Sol is not for drinking! ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/18 "2004-10-26T06:41:40Z")
They taste like soap to me. I used to eat 'em but I can’t stand the taste now. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/19 "2004-10-26T06:45:16Z")
I love the way they taste. I can eat them by the handful. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092/20 "2004-10-26T11:04:02Z")
It’s a love/hate thing… kind of like black jelly beans. I despise the bitter/salty licorice flavor, but like the other kind. Not all candy hearts are created equal, and some of them truely are gross, and some are quite tasty. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-like-message-hearts/271092.md?page=2)