# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Timmysteve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Timmysteve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timmysteve)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/141 "2014-10-30T22:31:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Sure, I wouldn’t get pedantic about that in that context, either. I might say “Are Reese’s okay?” if I’m unsure, but, then I’d also count in other confectionaries that are not strictly candy bars, like, say, **granola bars** , or individual serving size candies, truffles, etc. Whoa! Hold the phone! We didn’t say anything about granola bars! Your grey area accommodates a whole lot more snacks than I would ever have imagined would be invoked by the mention of “candy bar.” And just for the record, don’t go giving out granola bars on Halloween. Unless you live in some insular neighborhood full of health nuts, I think a kid would be pretty pissed off. You know how some folks get when you try to pass off an oatmeal raisin as a chocolate chip. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/142 "2014-10-30T23:11:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But there really isn’t any botanical (which is what I assume you mean by “technical”) definition of “vegetable” as far as I know. It’s not a botanical term. Feel free to look in a dictionary. [Here’s one, for instance](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vegetable?s=t). Or [here](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vegetable). Or [here](http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/vegetable?showCookiePolicy=true). None of the definitions here exclude fruit, and that’s just picking the most common online dictionaries. > > (And “connotation” doesn’t really mean “common meaning.” It’s the feelings a word or phrase invokes.) Exactly. Vegetable is not a botanical term. Tomatoes are vegetables. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/143 "2014-10-30T23:26:44Z")
It’s not a bar it’s a cup. But it doesn’t matter, if someone asks me if I’d like a candy bar and it turns out to be a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup I wouldn’t care in the least. If I offered someone a Peanut Butter Cup and they said it was a bar I’d just suggest they join the Straight Dope. I mean really now, if there’s a subject you can’t get me to argue about then it’s definitely the epitome of irrelevance. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/144 "2014-10-30T23:53:44Z")
I polled my classes today on the subject. The results were 62 that Reese’s are a candy bar, 81 that they weren’t. Then every class asked if I had any that I was giving out. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/145 "2014-10-31T02:00:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I polled my classes today on the subject. The results were 62 that Reese’s are a candy bar, 81 that they weren’t. Then every class asked if I had any that I was giving out. 😉 If you had had some to give out, they’d have said they were whichever one you wanted them to be. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/146 "2014-11-03T19:43:49Z")
We seem to have cooled down on the candy bar questions. Should we argue over whether or not the United States Court of International Trade should have decided that the [X-Men are not human?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_Biz_v._United_States) ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/147 "2014-11-03T19:52:55Z")
I am speechless at the fact that this is a genuinely open question. I answered “no” but now I have to be aware that many people don’t use the language the same way I do in this regard! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/148 "2014-11-03T20:08:23Z")
Strawberries aren’t a fruit, in the botanical sense: The things that people think of as the seeds are the real botanical fruits. The red juicy part is a highly-modified stem. Hibiscus may only be used in teas, but then, rhubarb is mostly only used in pies and related confections. I’ve never heard of anyone just munching down on a stalk of raw rhubarb. So limited usefulness clearly isn’t a criterion at work here. And while we’re at it on things used in pies, sweet potatoes are also used to make sweet pies. So it seems to me that they’re just as much a fruit as rhubarb is. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/149 "2014-11-03T20:28:38Z")
If I asked my wife to buy a candy bar she knows that I prefer Reese’s PB Cups. The shape doesn’t matter. It’s a candy bar. imho I’d say candy for jelly beans, peppermint disks or other hard candy, lifesavers, and Starburst. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/150 "2014-11-03T20:36:58Z")
I would say it is not a candy bar because it is not a bar. I would also say it is acceptable to refer to it as such anyway. ---
**Author:** ![spywholoved](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spywholoved/32/10368_2.png) [@spywholoved](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spywholoved)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/151 "2014-11-03T21:54:40Z")
“Fruit” is a botanical term, and “vegetable” seems to mean “edible plant part that’s not fruit”, so doesn’t vegetable get botanicalness by the transitive property of Defining Stuff by Exclusion? Also, not a bar. But whatever floats your boat. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/152 "2014-11-03T22:25:52Z")
> [@spywholoved](#): > > “vegetable” seems to mean "edible plant part that’s not fruit… Wrong. ---
**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 3, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/153 "2014-11-03T23:53:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hibiscus may only be used in teas … AIUI, hibiscus is often tucked behind the ear – it _looks_ decorative but is actually functional, as a means of pest/parasite control. Not a culinary use, but a valuable use nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/154 "2014-11-04T00:02:41Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > No. It is a candy, but not a candy _bar_. Count me as another who knows that this is the way things are. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/155 "2014-11-04T01:53:23Z")
Oh, and soup vs. stew is easy. If you can put it on a plate instead of a bowl, it’s stew. ---
**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 4, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/156 "2014-11-04T02:24:02Z")
I am kind of surprised that no one has mentioned that peanuts (such as they make the peanut butter in peanut butter cups from) are not a nut. ---
**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 4, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/157 "2014-11-04T02:28:11Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I am kind of surprised that no one has mentioned that peanuts (such as they make the peanut butter in peanut butter cups from) are not a nut. Why? It’s not relevant to the question (plus it’s fairly common knowledge–at least around here.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/158 "2014-11-04T02:29:22Z")
So those who say it’s not a bar because it’s not shaped like a bar must not dial a phone since the numbers are no longer in a circular configuration. ---
**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 4, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/159 "2014-11-04T02:42:00Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Why? It’s not relevant to the question The divisions between fruits and vegetables are not very relevant to the question either. Before long, this thread will probably drift into a debate about some random TV show or something. ---
**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 4, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699/160 "2014-11-04T02:50:44Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The divisions between fruits and vegetables are not very relevant to the question either. Before long, this thread will probably drift into a debate about some random TV show or something. Ah. :smack: Already forgot that the fruit-vegetable discussion was part of this topic. Hard to keep track of what thread has what. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-question/702699.md?page=9)