Call Me A Biscuit #socs

Stream of Consciousness Saturday 1 Minute
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

I had a friend whose favorite expression was "well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit." It sounds dirty, but when you think about it, it isn’t. Not too dirty, anyway.

In our much-younger days, I used to buy margarine instead of butter, and discovered (a) it tastes worse and (b) butter isn’t that much more expensive. And when I learned that margarine was all trans fats, I decided that, in the long run, we were better off having butter.

Mom was seven when World War II broke out, and she said you couldn’t buy butter, which they were told was all being sent overseas for the troops fighting. She said that margarine was white and came with a packet of what was essentially food coloring that you could blend into the margarine to make it look like butter. Sounds even more gross than margarine already is.

They had to substitute for coffee then, too, usually with chicory. I’ve never tasted it, but it’s supposedly a reasonable facsimile of the real thing. When all the men came home from overseas, I guess they preferred instant coffee to ground coffee, because that’s what they had in their rations. If that’s the case, why did they advertise that a brand of instant was more like fresh-brewed, if instant was superior, at least to their taste buds?

Stream of Consciousness Saturday is brought to you each week by Linda Hill and this station. Now here are Señor Wences and Johnny for Parkay margarine.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

39 thoughts on “Call Me A Biscuit #socs”

    1. Another thing is sugar: it’s better for you than corn syrup or any of the sugar substitutes, except maybe Stevia. The real stuff is always better than the fake stuff.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. There are 60 some words for added sugar, it’s the hidden toxic enemy in our food that causes diabetes, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, etc. Naturally occurring fructose in fruits, veggies, and honey is good for us. The processed white stuff, not so much, the less we consume of it the better we’ll all be. (IMHO) ;-).

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Pingback: The Pre-Theme Reveal Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  3. I love butter and slather it on! I used to have margarine when it was the fad to say butter was not good for you but then, after a while, and being told by my naturalist, I realized butter is better. I cook with it and every morning, I have toast with butter and honey..yummy!!Oh how I remember that commercial and loved the Senor. I loved the other bits people posted. The Vicar one is funny and my dad bought the cafe o’Lait tins.

    Like

  4. Interesting info. I remember reading about about yellow food coloring for margarine and thinking those people were really eating shortening … something like Crisco. Yuck anyway you slice it. Nothing beats the taste of real butter. I remember getting the fresh churned stuff when we visited my Grandma.

    Like

  7. Thanks for sharing the Parkay commercial. Butter’s where it’s at!
    That’s interesting about the coffee rations. Is that what brought instant coffee to Americans? When I was a teacher I drank those instant coffees all day every day, the International ones, can’t recall the names, but a small tin and I loved Vienna. I wouldn’t choose it over fresh brewed, but I loved it anyway.

    Like

    1. Instant coffee has been around since the Civil War, but got really popular during the World Wars because it was included in the GI’s meal packages, and a lot of guys just preferred it when they got home.

      You’re thinking of General Foods International Coffee, of course. Suisse Mocha, Cafe Vienna, and Cafe Francais (originally Cafe au Lait). It looks like they added capuccino after a while. Carol Lawrence used to do the commercials…

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you! Yes, Cafe Vienna, that was my jam 😛
        Since the Civil War! Wow, I would never have guessed that!

        Like

  8. I don’t like butter or margarine and my hubby doesn’t understand why I don’t like it. Frankly, neither do I. Oh, well.

    Like

  9. My dad was from Wisconsin and had a thing for butter. They did use “I Cant Believe it’s Not Butter” for a while, because it seemed like it was supposed to be healthier, lower in fat maybe? He always enjoyed real butter.

    Like

  10. You do know there is a book, “Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit, and other Country Sayings, Say-Sos, Hoots, and Hollers,” by Allan Zullo and Gene Cheek ❤ Happy Saturday, Mr. John ❤ Hope you are well 😉

    Like

  11. I used to love watching that commercial, John. It’s funny how there are some commercials (mostly in the past) that I enjoyed watching and some today where I can’t hit the mute button fast enough. We have always been a butter family.

    Like

    1. Butter is really much better than margarine for a lot of reasons.

      I can’t get enough of the old commercials. That’s one reason I add them to some posts: I just like seeing them again.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. The margarine and food color sounds a bit repulsive. We churned out own butter at my grandmother’s when we had fresh milk from the cows.

    Like

  13. Hi John
    Nice memory with that funny “nuts” phrase
    And grass fed butter is a gift!
    And my husband does health coaching part time and he had three things he calls the unholy trinity – the first two are sugars and grains and the third are the industrial oils! And right now vegetable oils and canola oils are puking from people’s health and years ago it was more the fake butter and margarines – and still sadly used a lot because there is still lies about butter and other good fats!
    Anyhow / liked the brief history with WWII tidbits too / and I remember the Parkay commercials so well

    Like

    1. Rich Little had a TV show back in the ’70’s and they would do sketches. There was one where they had a Spanish funeral home, and the director shows a woman her husband’s casket. She starts crying and saying, “Antonio, por que? Por que?” and the lid of the casket opens up and it says “butter.” Needless to say, I found that more than a little amusing. Then, not long after that, they did an actual Spanish-language commercial….

      Liked by 1 person

  14. I knew about the butter/ dairy scarcity during WW2 but not about the yellow food colouring to be added to the white margarine. Quite bizarre really, but no more bizarre than eating ready made yellow margarine aka exactly what we buy off the shelves these days

    Like

    1. I didn’t know that either. OMG the food color, really and white margarine. It really was like eating a mouthful of fat. ewwwww…Another bit of trivia to store away in my useless bank of trivia 😉 Happy weekend…

      Liked by 1 person

    1. There is also a title of book using that phrase…”Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit, And other Country Sayings, Say-Sos, Hoots, and Hollers.” Allan Zullo and Gene Cheek, Authors 😉

      Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.