# Reese's Peanut Butter Cups question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 27, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699 "2014-10-27T23:51:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Henryunderborn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58f4c7/32.png) [@Henryunderborn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henryunderborn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/181 "2014-11-07T15:08:53Z")
It is not a candy bar. It is a package of candy bites. It would be like calling splenda, the same as sugar, because it as commonly used for the same purpose. No. It is a substitute. However, in this case… The Reeses Peanut Butter cup… is its own solemn standard. The case… is rested. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/182 "2014-11-07T15:10:53Z")
Are fun-sized snickers candy bars? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/183 "2014-11-07T15:20:08Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Are fun-sized snickers candy bars? Personally, for what I think of as a candy bar, no. ---
**Author:** ![Henryunderborn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58f4c7/32.png) [@Henryunderborn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henryunderborn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/184 "2014-11-07T15:30:38Z")
they are miniaturized candy bars. si senor! ---
**Author:** ![Henryunderborn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58f4c7/32.png) [@Henryunderborn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Henryunderborn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/185 "2014-11-07T15:31:44Z")
The question to ask is, are King Size Peanutbutter cups, candy bars? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/186 "2014-11-07T17:41:25Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I think what you aren’t getting is that, for a lot of us, paragraph one necessarily follows from the acceptance of paragraph two. If a valid response to “What’s your favorite candy bar?” is RPC, then RPC must be a candy bar in some sense. > > It’s essentially the descriptivist/prescriptivist divide. If RPC can be used in a place that asks for a candy bar answer, then it is candy bar, no matter the technical specifications. I disagree. If I were to ask you to explain to me how a RPC is different from a Snickers, one of the many descriptions on that list would be “A RPC is the shape of a circle and a Snickers is the shape of a bar.” ---
**Author:** ![captainobvious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@captainobvious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainobvious)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/187 "2014-11-08T07:27:12Z")
Can we treat subject-verb agreement here? I will assume so. Now let’s ask what we ought to ask: _Is_ Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup_s_ _a_ candy bar? Now for those of you who still cling to the lie… [ol] [li]Is the pair of cups one physical object?[/li][li]If yes, you are wrong. Check your computations.[/li][li]If no, add the common -s suffix to bar thereby pluralizing the word.[/li][li]We are now considering multiple cups and bars. Let’s simplify by focusing on a single cup-bar.[/li][li]Now decide whether a single cup is a bar unto itself.[/li][li]If yes, then vote your conscience (keeping in mind that the question is not whether cups are bar_s_, but whether cups are bar).[/li][li]If no, then vote no.[/li][/ol] **TL;DR** _ **Cups is not bar.** _ ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/188 "2014-11-08T17:50:50Z")
Mounds is a candy bar, even though there are two of them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/189 "2014-11-09T05:38:12Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I disagree. If I were to ask you to explain to me how a RPC is different from a Snickers, one of the many descriptions on that list would be “A RPC is the shape of a circle and a Snickers is the shape of a bar.” I don’t disagree there. But I still would say that some would say that RPC is a candy bar in the shape of circle, while Snickers has the traditional bar-shape. As I said in mine, I’m sorta on the fence. I lean towards it being a candy bar, but I can think of some contexts where it would not be. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/190 "2014-11-09T22:13:33Z")
I wouldn’t call RPC a “candy bar”, but if I told you to get a candy bar and you chose them, I wouldn’t question it. If I wanted chocolate candy, I might pick RPC, or I might pick Twix, or I might pick Rolo, or I might pick Snickers. Snickers is a candy bar. Twix is actually two candy bars in a package. Rolo is a package of candy that the package is roughly bar shaped, but the candies themselves are not candy bars. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are cups, not bars. Mounds (and Almond Joy) are two candy bars in a package together. [Fun size Snickers](https://www.google.com/search?q=fun+size+snickers&biw=1024&bih=548&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ReZfVNvQCsityATHw4LwDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ) and Butterfinger, etc, are candy bars - short candy bars. [Snickers Bites](https://www.google.com/search?q=fun+size+snickers&biw=1024&bih=548&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ReZfVNvQCsityATHw4LwDA&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#tbm=isch&q=bite+size+snickers) fall on the line. I wouldn’t call them “candy bars”, but they might be considered _really_ short bars. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/191 "2015-10-12T16:09:10Z")
It’s Halloween again so I though I would resurrect this discussion. My thinking on the matter has a evolved and although I voted No, I think is it is a candy bar in all ways that matter so it counts. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/192 "2015-10-12T16:14:55Z")
Well, just to even things out, I apparently voted yes when this first came out, even though I have no memory of doing so, and I would vote no today. So **Quimby** and I have changed places but the totals remain unchanged. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/193 "2015-10-12T16:50:09Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It’s Halloween again… I honestly checked the date on the computer to make sure I hadn’t suffered some sort of stroke. (I’m, sadly, not kidding.) Does “Halloween” just refer to mid-to-late October these days? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/194 "2015-10-12T16:58:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I honestly checked the date on the computer to make sure I hadn’t suffered some sort of stroke. (I’m, sadly, not kidding.) Does “Halloween” just refer to mid-to-late October these days? Halloween Season I guess 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/195 "2015-10-12T17:09:36Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Halloween Season I guess 🙂 I know. Everyone has their Halloween lights and displays out, and I see groups of people going around singing pumpkin carols. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/196 "2015-10-12T19:53:04Z")
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a sublime candy treat, but on the basis of geometry alone, they are not a bar. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/197 "2015-10-12T20:22:39Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > It’s Halloween again so I though I would resurrect this discussion. My thinking on the matter has a evolved and although I voted No, I think is it is a candy bar in all ways that matter so it counts. Wow, I’d forgotten how great this thread was. I’ve been reading almost every post out loud to my husband. He’d like a word with you all. > [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a sublime candy treat, but on the basis of geometry alone, they are not a bar. To repeat my favorite line in this thread… it’s functional not geometric definition. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/198 "2015-10-12T20:32:58Z")
Jeezum crow, 2014 Inner Stickler writes terribly. And they’re still a candy bar. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/199 "2015-10-12T21:41:34Z")
Lots of word uses stretch the definition of the word. Does a mini computer you use to send text messages to your cohorts = a phone? Well, it does have the ability to function that way, but it also functions as a web browser, a camera, an email client, and a GPS navigating map. The term “candy bar” may have been devised off of bar shaped chocolate treats, but the term “candy bar” means to a lot of people a chocolate candy treat, not a rectangular bar. So this is purely a question of how you, in your heart, see things. Is it a geometrical term or a functional term? Thus the war. Now butter my toast on the top side, please. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/200 "2015-10-12T21:43:47Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Is it a geometrical term or a functional term? Well, both. And Reese’s fail for both reasons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699.md?page=11)