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Candies for everyone!- What do you call these... "candies"?

Candies for everyone!- What do you call these... "candies"?

Impressive_Craft_330
I know what a normal candy or lollipop is. A normal CANDY is a small sugary thing that you put in your mouth and suck. Same for a LOLLIPOP but this one has a stick. SNACKS, if I'm not wrong is whatever you eat that doesn't look like a prepared meal. I mean, it can be everything from a chocolate bar to a bag of chips or M&m's But then there are plenty of what I'd call candies (I don't know the specific word for them), which can be chewed and eaten, unlike normal candy or lollipops which are sucked or chewing gum which is only chewed. Golosinas or ChucherĂ­as is what we call them in Spain; and Gominolas also. (I post the Spanish names just in case someone is familiar with the words and can give me an equivalent. I guess you have the exact same things in the US/UK/AUS, but for un non-native speakers, they as a whole are called "candies". The Spanish equivalent of candy is "caramelo", which is only something small you suck. They often come wrapped in a paper. Is "candy" the umbrella term you use for everything? The following are different types of "candies" that we'd never call candies in Spanish. ***-These are "golosinas" or "chucherĂ­as", which is the umbrella term and within them you have plenty of shapes and flavors so children call them "a strawberry", "a banana", "a shark" etc...*** https://preview.redd.it/gwss6y6uxcde1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b33784832ccb1f76fb75fe4c7dd03e02c3f94943 ***-These are called "esponjas" (sponges) or "nubes" (clouds). There's also the "ladrillo", which is square and tough like a brick.*** https://preview.redd.it/0mxwyd4eycde1.jpg?width=200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=069c3a14d724fc02f344f091866aafa023c733ca ***-These are called "piruleta" (lollipop). BUT, if it's more like a sweet, round candy with a stick we call it a "Chupa Chups", even if it's not the original brand.*** **PIRULETA:** https://preview.redd.it/40cx6q72zcde1.jpg?width=148&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d729e683dd38b0f89344699d4860ab550c0b9d8 ***-CHUPA CHUPS- (EVEN IF THEY HAVE NO BRAND, THEY'RE STILL CHUPA CHUPS IFTHEY LOOK LIKE THIS:*** https://preview.redd.it/eis8oo6bzcde1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55d46c61a7e5b4e0008f4555ce634b1c53921ef1 ***-These are GOMINOLAS (tiny things, gummy texture). The famous "bears" are also gominolas.*** https://preview.redd.it/thoy3f870dde1.jpg?width=204&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ee7e4ed41e14f0575937a209b0a8989995192c2a https://preview.redd.it/ubb0b5z80dde1.jpg?width=195&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d65d29699c185081e101d2389a37b771b9d0db3e ***WHAT ARE CARAMELOS (CANDIES) THEN???*** THESE: https://preview.redd.it/8eqrh9f22dde1.jpg?width=204&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6be37d1d056e2d180cd62c46ee589c04043897f8 https://preview.redd.it/viqa39k82dde1.jpg?width=225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=286ca62b0ccdd7e882b52a946dbbe34abcc0ef75

32 comments

Dorianscale•
US native here. I would call any super sweet sugary food like that candy. I think unless it was something like a baked good such as cake or cookies, I’d generally call it candy. Chocolate bars, lollipops, m&ms, hard candies, caramels, gummy bears, all of that I’d call candy.
3mptylord•
If I remember correctly, the word "candy" in the States can also be used to refer to chocolate, fudge and other sweet confectionary. In the UK, all of your examples would be called "sweets", regardless of whether it's boiled, chewy, on a stick, or whatever. That said, we don't typically use the word "sweets" to refer to things like chocolate, fudge and other sweet-flavoured foods that you'd probably find in the same aisle of a supermarket - so our word isn't entirely interchangeable with candy. I'm not entirely sure if there's a formal distinction or if it's just vibes - it's probably just vibes.
Emotional-Care814•
Basically, as long as it is sweet and small, it's a candy. So Skittles, M&Ms, gummy bears, gummy worms are all candies. All the pictures you showed would be called candy in my country. In fact, even chocolate bars could be called candy. Anything you buy in the sweets aisle or at the checkout in the grocery store would be a candy.
cowheadcow•
Yes we treat candy as an umbrella term in the U.S. Chocolate bars, m&ms, lollipops, and taffy are all candy. We tend not to use "candies," but if I heard "a bunch of candies" I would assume it meant a bunch of *types* of candy. You are always free to get more specific. I could ask you for your snickers, your chocolate bar, or your candy, and mean the same thing with all three.
ksweeen•
In the US, we would call all of these candy. We may sometimes have additional names for specific types; for example, what you call “caramelo” we would call “hard candy,” and what you call “gominola” we would call “gummy candy” or “gummies”* (“gummy bears” if they’re bear-shaped and “gumdrops” if they’re dome-shaped like the ones in your first gominola picture). But you can just call all of these “candy” and that would be normal and correct. *”Gummies”, at least for me, often specifically refers to gummy candy that contains marijuana, so be careful with this one!
miss-robot•
In Australia, the umbrella term for all those is “lollies.” One lolly, two lollies. A bag of lollies. Etc. We also call them their specific name where appropriate: gummy bears or lollipops or whatever. But the whole category is ‘lollies’ the way Americans and others would say ‘candy.’
Tiana_frogprincess•
The type of candy you talk about are called hard candy in American English, boiled sweet in British English and lolly in Australia. That’s one type of candy. The picture you are showing is also candy. M&M’s and chocolate bars are candy. Snacks are chips, popcorn, cheese doodles and that sort of thing.
skipskedaddle•
Brit here. And old. Not an expert. My personal take: I do not say candy. That's American - I understand it though. The umbrella term is confectionary. This covers chocolate and sweets. I think it means candy. It is slightly poncy. Sweets or sweeties is a catch-all term but it excludes chocolate. Chocolates are chocolates they're not sweets. (Except jazzies. These are a hybrid and the exception that makes the rule) I would say fudge is a type of sweet. A lollipop has a stick. Always. Chupa chups is a lollipop or lolly. (An ice lolly is also a lolly - but it is not a sweet.) (Antipodean friends calling all sweets lollies is baffling. The stick is crucial.) Toffees are chewy. Boiled sugar with cream(? butter.) e.g a cadbury's chocolate eclair. Caramels are made the same way but hard and brittle. Like boiled sweets but with dairy. (Caramel is also the term for liquid sticky sugary stuff e.g in a mars bar.) Hard boiled sweets are hard crack boiled sugar. Think chupa chups without the stick. Wrapped, hard and to be sucked. (Lol.). Like a sherbet lemon or humbug. No dairy. Then you get gummies or gums or pastilles or jellies- fruity and chewy but chewy from gelatine not just boiled sugar. Gummy bears, jelly babies fruit pastilles, wine gums. All slightly different textures but fundamentally similar. Marshmallows are foamy. Egg white and sugar. Flumps. Squashies are marshmallow crossed with jellies. These are your fried eggs, your milk bottles, latterly of course the Percy Pigs. I don't think we have a good term for wrapped chewy toffee style sweets that are fruity. (Your caramelo)I think you'd be understood with fruity chew but the brands - refreshers, wham, chewit, black jack, fruit salad are more commonly referred to. I don't think we have a term for harder marshmallow style sweets like teeth, bananas and shrimps. We found some in Sweden once and there they are scum bananas so now we call them scum bananas. This tickles me. Candy exists but it's niche. It is super sweet and kind of chalky. Back when cigarettes for kids were a thing, these were candy wrapped in rice paper. Such fun. Most corner shops up until COVID sold sweets for 1 - 5p. Kids would get a paper bag, spend their 20p pocket money it, take it to the counter. The shop keeper would count it and patiently carry out the child's first transactions - working out the money and the change. When I was a kid I had 10p on. Friday but lots of sweets were a halfpenny so I could get a good hail. Most wholesome. My kids now get 60p and this gets them a pre prepared bag of sweets. They still get to do the transaction with the patient corner shop owner though. So that's nice. Thanks for making me think happy thoughts writing this.
CaptainFuzzyBootz•
I am a native New Yorker, and this is how I'd break it down: Candy = and sugar confection, a broad term for things Hard candy = basically just hard sugar that you suck on Suckers / Lollipops = hard candy with a stick Gummies = Gummy bears, gummy worms, etc... chewy soft Candy bar = usually chocolate with possibly down other fillings (Snickers, mars bar, boost, etc)
Flam1ng1cecream•
I wouldn't call them candies, but I would call them candy. It's used as an uncountable noun in American English to refer to basically any sweet treats that aren't baked or eaten warm. Chocolate, gummies, and lollipops are all examples of candy. "Candies", plural, means hard candies like in your last picture, so you could say "Candies are a kind of candy." "Candies" can also mean "types of candy", though, so you could also say "chocolate, gummies, and lollipops are all candies."
Joe_Q•
In Canadian English, you would call all of this "candy" as a general term. "He eats a lot of candy" = could refer to Gummy Bears etc. But as a specific term in the plural, "candies" would usually be restricted to your first category (the ones you suck on). As in, you wouldn't hand someone a bag of Gummy Bears and say "here are some candies for you".
Drevvch•
Those are all candy for the US Southeast, too. I'd also point out that for my dialect of US English, _candy_ is a mass noun like _rice_ or _water_. I wouldn't say, “There are cand**ies** in the kitchen,” unless I was specifically noting that there are multiple varieties of candy. “There's candy in the kitchen if you want some.” “Ok, but I'm only going to have one piece.”
FrostWyrm98•
Every one of those is what I would call "candy" A small side note, in US English we would say "candy" for plural instead of "candies", we tend to speak about them as a collective Another example is asking amounts, we tend to say "how much candy did you get" over "how many candies did you get"
Impressive_Craft_330••OP
Thank you all!! u/sics2014 u/Dorianscale u/3mptylord u/another-personing u/FrostWyrm98 u/cowheadcow u/Emotional-Care814 u/Drevvch u/ksweeen u/Tchemgrrl u/Joe_Q u/Tiana_frogprincess u/miss-robot
livrer•
“Suckers” or “hard candy” are the specific terms for the hard ones you suck on (USA)
ausecko•
They're only candy in America. They're sweets in Britain, lollies in Australia, probably something else in Sth Africa, nobody cares what they're called in New Zealand.
GrandmaSlappy•
What you called normal candy, we'd call hard candy. And we'd consider hard candy to be less popular and the soft candies to be normal candy.
indiesfilm•
in canada, all of those examples are candy. unlike the US, we don’t call chocolate “candy” (it’s just chocolate), but everything else is just under that umbrella term.
mothwhimsy•
(US) We'd call all of these candy but most of them also have more specific names. Like there are lollipops, suckers, and gummy bears here
sfwaltaccount•
1. Gummies 2. Not familiar with these 3. Sucker or lollipop 4. Also Sucker or lollipop 5. Gumdrops 6. Gummy bears 7. Hard candy 8. Can't think of a specific name. And yes, all of this is "candy". In US English anyway. I know the UK has some different terminology. What we call hard candy is boiled sweets for instance.
a_beautiful_kappa•
Anything squishy is a jelly here. The rest are sweets.
TerribleAttitude•
All of those things are candy, as are things like MMs and chocolate bars, crunchy fruity sweet things like Nerds or Smarties, chewy sweet things like AirHeads. Even things like nut clusters might be called candy (though not just nuts, even if they’re sugared). What you’re describing specifically we’d call “hard candy.” A snack is anything smaller than a meal, basically. MMs are candy, and candy can be a snack.
Glad_Performer3177•
Hehe, all candies are snacks but not the other way.... As the snack original use was something that can be eaten in a bite. Then it evoked to be anything small between meals or before a meal, which could include sandwiches, or even a turkey leg or a whole cake...
JasonMBernard•
Candy is used widely as an umbrella term because of the way it is sold: in candy shops or in the candy aisle at a store. Basically anything man-made, small and sugary and edible is candy. However some things aren't considered candy because they fall into a seperate category: small cookies, for example. Gum is disputable. Some people call it candy and some people disagree, but it is sold in the candy aisle.
MarionberryWeird7371•
[Native US speaker] I’d like to add that in my head, a snack is anything that isn’t meal size. So if I have a little cup of chicken and rice, and it’s less than I’d eat for a meal, I’d call it a snack.
Particlepants•
This is gonna be highly dependent on country/region, I as a Canadian would use the umbrella term "candies" but (I think) and Australian would call them all "lollies" and someone from the UK would say "sweets".
CreaturesFarley•
There's a lot of regional variation. All of the items in the pics you've uploaded would be called: Candy/candies in the US Sweets/sweeties in the UK Lollies in Australia Lolly or lollipop in the US and UK is a term that specifically means the sweets/candies on a stick.
amaya-aurora•
All of the stuff in those photos are candy. If you want to be more specific, you can just say the type of candy that it is.
skipskedaddle•
Ha! So yes caramel is caramel whether it's the thick stuff in a mars bar or on a Tarte tatin or the thin stuff in a creme caramel. You could get Marie biscuits but they're not common. The closest is probably a Rich Tea biscuit but it's less fine thin and fancy. Custards are tricky. We have 'egg custard' which is baked in a bain marie until it's set and topped with nutmeg. I think the closest I've had to this in Spain (Barcelona) is Flan. Is this the same as Natilla? In a pastry shell this is an egg custard tart. Recently these are seen far less often but versions of Portuguese pastel de nata are ubiquitous. Creme anglaise is the same as custard but more technical, chef terminology as far as I know. If there is a difference it's that creme anglaise doesn't have cornflour. Both of these are liquid. We have custard a lot poured over hot desserts like apple crumble or sticky toffee pudding. I am now hungry. I like Span and Spanish food.
GeneralOpen9649•
I’m from Toronto and I would call everything you posted candy or candies.
sics2014•
I'd call all of that candy. If I had to be more specific, I'd just say the type of candy it is. Like the gum drops and gummy bears you pictured. And then the last picture looks like generic hard candy a grandma would give you. The first one looks like sour gummies with banana runts mixed in.
Tchemgrrl•
In the US at least, anything that is a small item made by boiling sugar is called a candy, which would include all of the items you shared and would also include things like marshmallows. (Chocolate is also called candy here although it is not made that way. It’s the only exception I can think of.) The chewy candies in fun shapes can be called “gummies” as a group. Specific ones would be gummy bears, gummy sharks, or gummy strawberries. I don’t have a name for the espongas, and have never seen them. From your description I might call them a candy with a marshmallowy texture. The ladrillos sound similar to a candy we call “circus peanuts”, which are orange and shaped like a peanut, but have a fruity flavor. The last two I would call “hard candies”.