# What's A Smarties Shape (Fawlty Towers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 30, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587 "2007-10-30T16:30:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BobMmm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/51bf81/32.png) [@BobMmm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobMmm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/1 "2007-10-30T16:30:30Z")
I wash watching an episdoe of Fawlty Towers called Gourmet Night and Basil is talking to the rude little boy who doesn’t like his french fries. He says - they’re the wrong shape Basil says - what shape did you want, mickey mouse shape, smarties shape, amphibious landing craft shape What is – smarties shape? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/2 "2007-10-30T16:33:36Z")
Smarties, in the UK, are little lenticular chocolate beans with candy shells - like M&Ms, but flatter and wider. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/3 "2007-10-30T16:37:07Z")
Likely a reference to Smarties candy; chocolate drops with a hard brightly-coloured candy coating. Popular in the U.K. for decades (and Canada and other nations, though not the U.S. where the brand name “Smarties” is used on a brand of fruit-flavoured candy). The closest American equivalent is M&Ms. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/4 "2007-10-30T18:10:02Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] The closest American equivalent is M&Ms. [/QUOTE] With one major difference–M&M’s taste good. Smarties are way, way too sugary sweet. The coating is so sweet you can’t taste the chocolate inside. And the coating is hard and brittle, too.And the chocolate is dry and tasteless. Now we 'Yanks know how to make good candy: M&M’s taste like chocolate, pleasantly wrapped in a sweetish shell. M&M’s were invented by people who eat good Texas steaks and Idaho potatoes. Smarties were invented by people who eat bangers and mash, with warm beer. There’s a reason why you guys lost the war in 1776, ya know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/5 "2007-10-30T18:24:53Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] There’s a reason why you guys lost the war in 1776, ya know. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I thought there were two basic reasons: (1) The Americans lived there, and the British Army had no real stake in the country. (2) The North Atlantic Ocean makes it slow and expensive to send supplies or reinforcements to your troops on the other side. Neither M&Ms nor Smarties had been invented in 1776. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/6 "2007-10-30T18:35:13Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] With one major difference–M&M’s taste good. [/QUOTE] Clearly you’ve never had any orange Smarties. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/7 "2007-10-30T18:36:31Z")
I now have a craving for amphibious landing craft shaped french fries. ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/8 "2007-10-30T18:38:28Z")
“When you eat your smarties do you eat the red ones last? Do you suck them very slowly, or crunch them very fast? Eat that candy coated chocolate, but tell me when I ask When you eat your smarties do you eat the red ones last?” The power of advertising. The last major innovation was blue smarties. I like smarties somewhat, but they always taste like the cardboard box they came in. ---
**Author:** ![KatieCats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@KatieCats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KatieCats)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/9 "2007-10-30T18:45:50Z")
[QUOTE=Mikemike2] “When you eat your smarties do you eat the red ones last? Do you suck them very slowly, or crunch them very fast? Eat that candy coated chocolate, but tell me when I ask When you eat your smarties do you eat the red ones last?” The power of advertising. The last major innovation was blue smarties. I like smarties somewhat, but they always taste like the cardboard box they came in. [/QUOTE] And now I’m going to have that jingle going through my head all afternoon… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/10 "2007-10-30T18:56:21Z")
Are you kidding?! M&Ms better than Smarties? I LOVED Smarties. I even started a Cafe Society thread on where I could get them in Manhattan. (The answer is Cafe 28.) ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/11 "2007-10-30T18:58:25Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] M&M’s were invented by people who eat good Texas steaks and Idaho potatoes. [/QUOTE] Oh you poor things! Don’t worry, we’ll rush you a care package of Smarties, Alberta steaks, and PEI potatoes. Don’t thank us; we have plenty and we’re glad to share with our unfortunate friends south of the border! [Helen Lovejoy]Won’t somebody _please_ think of the Americans?[/Helen Lovejoy] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/12 "2007-10-30T19:11:35Z")
[QUOTE=Spoons] Oh you poor things! Don’t worry, we’ll rush you a care package of Smarties, Alberta steaks, and PEI potatoes. [/QUOTE] Alberta steaks, PEI pototoes–okay, okay, I’ll let you claim superiority, if it gives you a warm feeling in your heart . I feel sorry for folks up there in the frozen north… But, for Og’s sake–if you _dare_ to eat Smarties at the same meal, I’m gonna tell the mods to ban you. We don’t allow jerks here… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/13 "2007-10-30T19:35:17Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] I thought there were two basic reasons: (1) The Americans lived there, and the British Army had no real stake in the country. (2) The North Atlantic Ocean makes it slow and expensive to send supplies or reinforcements to your troops on the other side. Neither M&Ms nor Smarties had been invented in 1776. [/QUOTE] That’s just what the crazy king of theirs wanted us to believe! Probably didn’t realize that the colonists mangled the language every chance they got (and we still do, I suppose), and it was only through this mush-mouthness of theirs that no one remembers it was really called the “Boston Smarties Party” Yup, they made the Yanks eat Smarties rather than the obviously superior M&M’s ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/14 "2007-10-30T20:45:07Z")
[QUOTE=Mikemike2] The last major innovation was blue smarties. [/quote] They’re gone now - they don’t use artificial colourings any more, so they now consist of rather more muted tones of green, yellow, pink, purple, red and brown (possibly, also white, but I don’t remember) > [@](#): > > I like smarties somewhat, but they always taste like the cardboard box they came in. This might sound strange, but that’s one of the things I like best about them - smarties from a plastic bag (also available) just aren’t the same. I miss the old cardboard tubes with the pop-on plastic lids. \ ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/15 "2007-10-30T20:47:20Z")
[QUOTE=chappachula] Now we 'Yanks know how to make good candy: [/QUOTE] I can give America the advantage in many aspects of life.. but this… This is where I draw the line! How dare you! The folks that brought the world Candy Corn claim candy superiority??? Nay I say! The line is drawn here and no further shall you go! Now Go get some Cadbury chocolates from the UK and tell me where you sit on the list of great candy makers? ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/16 "2007-10-30T21:08:17Z")
I went through my freshman year in college addicted to Cadbury chocolate, because it was so much better than Hershey’s. But since then, I discovered Swiss chocolate, then Belgian chocolate, and now there are fine craft chocolatiers all over this land. Even Hershey’s now has a line of fine, 70% cocoa, craft chocolate, in addition to the cheaper mass market stuff. But I remember Cadbury’s fondly. It was directly responsible for most of my freshman 15. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/17 "2007-10-30T21:29:34Z")
Interesting. We have a candy called Smarties here in the US. There’s no chocolate involved though. There’s actually not much involved other than sugar. They’re round disc shaped with the big sides being concave as opposed to flat. They come in a twisted up roll. They get trucked out every year at Halloween, but you don’t really ever see them for sale in the candy rack at the store. ETA: [US Smarties](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarties_%28Ce_De_Candy%29) [UK Smarties](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smarties_%28Nestl%C3%A9%29). Interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/18 "2007-10-30T21:30:37Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] Interesting. We have a candy called Smarties here in the US. There’s no chocolate involved though. There’s actually not much involved other than sugar. They’re round disc shaped with the big sides being concave as opposed to flat. They come in a twisted up roll. [/QUOTE] I think they’re considered loser candies. (Winners being gigantic Milky Way bars and the like.) Cheap lollies are also a loser candy. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/19 "2007-10-30T21:39:48Z")
US Smarties freakin’ rock, dudes. It’s like a cup of sugar and a pinch of citric acid smooshed into a concentrated disk. Yeah, baby… that’s the good stuff. Mom would go through our Halloween bags every year, “for safety” (this was back when we all feared razor blades and cyanide, also the ice cream man was a drug pushing hippy, but I think Mom was mostly just cheap) and at the end of the safety inspection all the Smarties were gone. They aren’t in the same category as those tiny Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, it’s true, and there has long been speculation that I’m not exactly normal, so your results may vary. You gotta give out a handful at a time to avoid an egging, tho. ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2007, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587/20 "2007-10-30T22:00:48Z")
We have something that looks almost identical to the US Smarties, even the packaging looks the same. I can’t for the life of me remember what they’re called though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-smarties-shape-fawlty-towers/424587.md?page=2)