Chives vs chives

[telophase]

Thanks for all the comments on the previous post about dialect differences when using "chives" vs. "green onions." Between here and Facebook, it's been rather interesting, and there seems to be a strong U.S. Southern influence in using "chives."

Essentially, people from Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, and Louisiana have reported using the term "chives" to refer to green onions, and a couple from Texas have specified that in their dialect, when the bulb and green stems are together, they're green onions, but when the green tops are removed, the tops become chives.

We also called Toby's mom last night to confirm and by a stroke of luck it turned out his parents were visiting family, so we confirmed that her sister, who also grew up in Kentucky, calls them chives. Toby's dad, who grew up in Florida, calls them chives,, but can't remember if he always called them that or if he picked it up from Toby's mom.

Comments

[settiai]

*raises hand*

I'm another Tennessean (Middle Tennessee, right on the Alabama state line) who grew up hearing people sometimes refer to green onions as chives, but only the tops. If the bulb was still attached, they were just green onions.

[hunningham]

I'm fascinated. Over here (UK) it's always and only chives - I've never heard the expression green onions. Also, and this is strange, I've never thought of eating the bulbs. The flowers yes, 1001 recipes for the flowers, but not the bulbs.

Pretty sure I've got the right plant - long green blades, pretty purple flowers (which taste of onions) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Allium_schoenoprasum_in_NH_01.jpg