Talk:Candy

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To do: explain temperatures and results; link to appropriate sub-articles (like fudge); explain traditional temperature tests (like soft-ball stage). -- Dominus 05:30 Apr 20, 2003 (UTC)

{{editprotected}}

I can't add the MergeTo tag to the main page; it's protected. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.147.80.137 (talk • contribs)

Y Done --ais523 12:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! That was quick!


Why do so many articles on Wikipedia go out of their way to chide North America about English usage. Has a word never changed meaning in the UK? Anyway, I'm fixing it. Daniel Quinlan 04:56, Aug 23, 2003 (UTC)

The term "confectionery" is the only one that's neutral. If you use the word "candy", that's an American POV, if you use the word "sweet", it's a British POV. The chiding is often to do with exactly what you've just done by using the American POV word even if non-American english speakers object.

I'm not necessarily advocating a change, but "confectionary" doesn't seem anymore neutral to me than "candy". From the American perspective, "sweet" is used much, much more than "confectionary". Also, perhaps this is biased, but if there's a dispute as to which country's term ought to be used, shouldn't the fact that over 2/3 of native English speakers reside in the United States be factored into the discussion. In other words, isn't the prevalent usage of a word in America essentially the more prevalent usage of the word in general? BarqSimpson 01:08, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Absolutely not. Following your logic, then this would be usa.wikipedia.org. However, since it's en.wikipedia.org, it caters for all English speakers all over the world. The guidelines specifically say that no one national variety of English should be favoured over any other, in general - and where possible, internationally-neutral compromises should be used. The term "confectionery" is internationally neutral, as belongs in an international encyclopædia. If you want to start a usa-only version then be my guest: in the meantime, we all use the international one. EuroSong talk 21:34, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

I really don't understand this discussion, I myself am not a native English speaker, but have had a thorough English education. There is different word use on wording and spelling in English as in other languages, language is never static and not invented by an organisation but spoken by people. Even dictionaries don't include all words immediatly on use. Is the word google a verb? Is it in a dictionary? Will it be in the future? I really see no need for this discussion, if there are many POV's (read wordings) the best way to be NPOV is to include all POV's with a note on where they came from and where they are used. Teardrop onthefire 07:58, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm removing the 'list of candies' because it doesn't give you any information you wouldn't get by just clicking on the "Category:Confectionery" link. Further, these category pages keep themselves up to date. The list in this article only lists a fraction of the 'candy articles'. ike9898 01:50, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Removal of branded names from candy types

Should we remove such things as Reese bits from candy types? It's too specific, and, what's worse, brand specific.

[edit] Candyarian?

What's the adjective for someone who eats only candy? Jarrod 04:25, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Various options that spring to mind (depending on how long they've been doing this for) include "fat" and "dead". If you do have a reason to use the term, I'm sure there's no law against coining "candyarian" to serve. (There is some paranoia against using words that aren't in the dictionary, but I doubt most dictionaries include the word "eats". The important thing is if you're understood, and if it suits the context.)
Of course, "candarian" is a bit dangerous because it's based on a dialect-specific term; you might find Australians then discussing "lolliarians". Perhaps it could be based on "confectionery" which is dialect-neutral albeit formal, thus giving "confectionerian" (I imagine a "confectionarian" is someone who eats places that sell confeck, rather than the confeck itself—probably no better for your long-term health!).
—Felix the Cassowary (ɑe hɪː jɐ) 12:24, 24 October 2005 (UTC)
"Sweet-toothed" ? -- Derek Ross | Talk 05:54, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Influence of Atitude

This artcle fails to mention the considerable effect of the altitude of the place where the cooking is done to the temperature corresponding to the various "stages". Are all people interested in candy ftlanders or lowlanders ?

[edit] Candi, Crete

Would this be important?

The Arabs installed the first industrial sugar refinery on the island of Candia or Crete around the year 1000. The Arabic name for Crete, Qandi meant crystallized sugar.
History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat,Translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 549-554)

(unsigned comment ArthurianLegend on 2006-08-03T04:17:00)

Alas, Toussaint-Samat is a really, really unreliable source, full of legends and misinformation, and since she doesn't footnote most of what she writes, there's no way of verifying it. (Take a look at the customer reviews at Amazon. In this case, there is one major error, one minor error, and another dubious claim. The Arabic name Khandaq quite clearly comes from the Arabic word for "moat" (they dug one around the city), and has nothing to do with Qandi or Candy. It is true that Crete was sometimes called Candy, short for Candia, but this is pure happenstance. The island and the capital were not called Candia under Ottoman rule (as the article used to say), but under Venetian rule (before the Ottomans). I don't know where she gets the idea that the Arabs "built a large sugar refinery". This may or may not be true, but I don't know of any evidence for it. ِAn article I found, "The Mediterranean Sugar Industry" (J. H. Galloway, Geographical Review 67:2:177-194 (Apr., 1977)[1]), shows sugar being produced in Crete from 1300-1600 (during the Venetian period), but shows only question marks for 800-1300. Upshot of all this, I have deleted this section of the article. Of course, if you have other sources for the Cretan sugar refinery claim, that would be great.... --Macrakis 20:31, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vandlized

The page has been vadilized, and I can't seem to edit out the explicet content. If someone knows how, please edit out the profanities ect. Unforgotten 03:31, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

This is an encyclopedia, and it is good for our articles to be explicit, and we have no particular religious orientation, so don't worry about profanation much. On the other hand, the obscenities that some vandal has added have nothing to do with this article, so I have removed them. --Macrakis 20:38, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] lollypop

I can't speak for new zealand, but in australia, lollypop only refers to a lolly on a stick. --UnnamedGent 02:51, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree with UnnamedGent. This article should not say Austrlain's use the term lollypop for any candy -Waza 04:53, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
Yeah. Can we get an edit on that ?

[edit] Health aspects

I would like to see some aspects on the health by eating candy. For example:

  • Is it dangerous to let your children eat candy? Perhaps to a certain extent?
  • However, it is certain that candy has a bad effect on the teeth. Prokaryotes produce acids in the metabolism of sugars, and these acids breaks down enamel. The result is caries. The world deserves to know this.

[edit] Who invented candy?

I'm curious, Wikipedians. 69.245.103.98 00:43, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

God. =

[edit] Are skittles Candy, Confectionary or neither?

Skittles do not taste sweet so what the heck are they?

Skittles taste sweet. Even Skittles Sours taste sweet. Liam Markham 19:42, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Skittles are tart - they're not sweet at all. What about sour soothers? they'll make you pucker and burn your tastebuds off because they're so sour. I want to know WHERE DOES ***********SOUR************* CANDY FIT IN!!!????? DOES CANDY HAVE TO *TASTE* SWEET? - YES OR NO? GIVE ME AN ANSWER. If the answer is yes, then sour candy needs to be mentioned in the article. If the answer is no, then sour candy is not candy and deserves it's own page!!! You cannot ignore the fact that sour candy exists!!!! Here's some extra exclamation marks!!!!!!

Candy must be pleasing to eat to be considered candy. My mum always buys those little licorice diamonds that are really salty. Are they candy? Is salty candy not candy because it tastes of salt? JayKeaton 07:21, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, of course salty candy is candy but heaven forbid you put it in the article. People freak out and delete your entry. Watch, I'll put one in right now.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pagingmrherman (talk • contribs) 04:33, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

or tamarind candy?142.68.53.212 20:18, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Is a candy not something that is enjoyed simply as a pleasure (without any other benefits) whether it be sweet, salty, or sour? If this does correctly define candy then many other goods that weren't previously seen as being candy could be considered as such with even the possibility of making different categories of candy. My point is that candy is an ambiguous term that may need the help of sub-definitions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.163.218.120 (talk) 18:36, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Merger

'Candy' is a purely American centric word. Wikipedia's guidelines state that titles of pages should be, where possible, easily understood by all English speakers, from whichever country. I therefore suggest that Candy is merely a local term for Confectionery, and that merging this article with Confectionery would give a more neutral term. Candy would then be a redirect to Confectionery, in the same way that Sweets does at the moment. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.147.80.137 (talk • contribs) 13:49, May 17, 2007 (UTC).

Candy is not americentric; it has a specific meaning in British English. "Confectionery" and "sweets" are both much, much more broad in meaning, and include things that aren't considered to be candy. I proposed the following on the confectionery page (please respond there to keep the discussion in one place.)
  • That candy be cleaned up to specifically be about sugar candy (it could possibly be renamed "sugar candy" with "candy" as a redirect.) There should be a tag at the top noting this and asking readers interested in other kinds of candy to see "confectionery."
  • That confectionery, which is currently a glorified list with a usage note, be cleaned up and made into a proper disambiguation page. It should possibly be moved to "confection" because "confectionery" can also mean the act of confection making, as well as the place where that happens.
"Sweets" is synonymous with "confectionery," and should thus continue to redirect there, but neither of those terms is synonymous with "candy," which should stay an independent article. Furthermore, this article contains candy-specific information that does not apply to other "sweets," such as the discussion about sugar stages. --Confiteordeo 23:47, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Origin of term

I've somewhere seen the etymology of "candy" attributed to Candy, the mediaeval/renaissance name for Crete, since that was the only Christian holding where sugar could be produced (Venice held it for a long time). Of course, the etymology could have gone the other way. Could somebody clear this up? P.M.Lawrence.

The Oxford English Dictionary would be the authoritative reference. You might be able to consult it at a city or college library. As a word for sugar confections, candy comes from the Persian qand meaning sugar, through Arabic, to Italian around 1300, and then to English around 1420. To complicate things, another meaning of candy is an obselete form of candia, which was once a name for Crete, as you say. This appeared in English around 1600. The OED does not connect this name for Crete with sugar, and most of the uses are as names of plants, but one use refers to something as "more sweet than candy oil". Tom Harrison Talk 15:27, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Candy... or if i were to take the liberty to call in 'sugar candy' sounds too much like the Hindi word for sweet potato - shakar kandi'. Is there a connection here ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.64.5.34 (talk) 05:58, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Suggested merge with 'Confectionary'.

Agreed. 'Candy' is only a terminology used within the US and therefor should not have a seperate article. By having a seperate article this suggests imperialism through the suggestion that their terminology is somehow exempt from Wikipedia rules. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.159.65.119 (talk) 16:16, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed, confectionary is more of a technical word for it and more appropriate for Wikipedia. This entry is pointless. Merge.70.189.213.149 (talk) 19:34, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Strange picture

Why is there a picture of a hand holding jellybeans and a person's head? 198.89.160.22 16:22, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

That was vandalism. I've since fixed it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. --Confiteordeo 21:41, 30 November 2007 (UTC)//////////////AAAAAAA

[edit] Why isn't this at "sweets" or "confectionary"?

The title as it is is very North American centric, why when only two English language countries call it "candy" is it located there? More countries call it something else. - Yorkshirian (talk) 20:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

There is already an article called confectionery, and its talk page contains a discussion about the proper naming and article content, which you may find enlightening. This article is specifically about candy. Confiteordeo (talk) 07:10, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
But "candy" IS confectionary! Why does it have its own article? Should I start articles about "lifts", "nappies", "footpaths" and so forth and defend them on the grounds that they are specifically about the non-American versions of elevators, diapers and sidewalks? Confectionary is clearly a generic term that fits all - There's no need for two articles. I have to wonder WHY the American version of the word ALWAYS has to win out on Wikipedia, even when the English one would be more appropriate. Most ludicrously of all, in cases like this where a generic catch-all name is available.70.189.213.149 (talk) 19:25, 27 January 2008 (UTC)


Distribution of native English speakers by country (Crystal 1997)
Distribution of native English speakers by country (Crystal 1997)

There you go. >>>> Travis T. Cleveland (talk) 02:01, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

But not every speaker of English is a native English speaker (indeed, most are second language speakers), and the English Wikipedia is not targeted solely at native English speakers. Dreaded Walrus t c 12:06, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The word "Candy"

The word CANDY (crystallized sugar) comes from Persian QANDI or GHANDI. GHANDI or QANDI in Persian means Sweet or whatever which is coming from sugar.

Suggestion: Specify what the percentage sugar means. I assume it is weight/weight but it is currently ambiguous. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bucaro1975 (talk • contribs) 13:49, 29 March 2008 (UTC)