Blinky the THIEF wrote:
> sf wrote:
> > On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:16:43 -0800, Blinky the Shark
> > > wrote:
>
> >>Hey, back in the day didn't butter come in sticks longer than today's
> >>little 3.25" stubbies? �Seems like maybe they were half-pound sticks --
> >>same cross section but twice as long. �I used marge for many years; when I
> >>came back to butter it seems like this change had happened. �Or am I
> >>misremembering? �Or is this a regional thing? �In the middle there, I did
> >>move to the other end of the country.
>
> > Butter used to come in two half pound "slabs". �Think the shape of two
> > undivided quarter pound sticks in today's shape. �I still have a
> > butter dish for them (intact).
>
> I was right, according to wiki (which I quote below).
>
> It's regional.
>
> I spent about the first half of my life in Michigan:
>
> "The dominant shape east of the Rocky Mountains is the Elgin, or
> Eastern-pack shape. This shape was originally developed by the Elgin
> Butter Tub Company, founded in 1882 in Elgin, Illinois and Rock Falls,
> Illinois. The sticks are 4.75" long and 1.25" wide, and are usually sold
> in somewhat cubical boxes stacked 2x2."
>
> Then I moved to California;
>
> "West of the Rocky Mountains, butter printers standardized on a different
> shape that is now referred to as the Western-Pack shape. These butter
> sticks are 3.125" long and 1.5" wide and are typically sold packed
> side-by-side in a rectangular container."
>
> So I grew up with thinner, longer ones (by 1 5/8 inches), albeit they
> weren't as long as I thought I remembered them.

When you post information that you gleaned off the net it's honest to
include attributions.

You stole all that from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter

Blinky the THIEF