Was that regional or just my family?
Re: words we use for things
My paternal grandmother's family had a name for the sleep crumbs that are found in the corners of your eyes when you wake up. My family still called it that when I was a kid. I used that term outside the home and the other kids didn't know what I was talking about. I had always known that stuff as witch butter? Didn't everyone? If I recall correctly, my family stopped calling eye crumbs "witch butter" shortly after that.
I randomly remembered that incident today and decided to google "witch butter" to see if anybody else out there used that term for morning eye crust.
That's how I learned about Tremella mesenterica
It's a type of jelly fungus I had never heard of until today. One of its common names is witch's butter.
I never thought to ask my grandmother why they called the eye stuff witch butter. Who was the first person in my family to describe morning eye crust in that way? Did it have anything to do with that type of fungus?
Were there other people who lived in my great-great-grandparents' neck of the woods who also called it witch butter? If so, how long did their descendants use that term before they got shamed out of it by city-folk? Or do they still say it?
