Which one--Pine Needles or Pine Straw

[ynottony99]

Thanks for leaving your thoughts on this most important question
I had never heard of pine straw before. Originaly from Kansas we didn't have lots of pine trees where I was. Now we are in Pinellas County Florida, and as you may guess, have quite a few.

 

[leprechaun]

If i'm not mistaken isn't a straw supposed to be hollow? So by definition it's a needle. That's what we call it here in the Nor'east

 

[Fish Almighty]

From Georgia here:

Pine needles are what's on the tree or individual pieces on the ground. Once they're raked in a pile or bundled, then they are pine straw.

And I call the stuff that drips on the cars either pine sap or pine tar, depending on my mood.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

From Georgia here:

Pine needles are what's on the tree or individual pieces on the ground. Once they're raked in a pile or bundled, then they are pine straw.

And I call the stuff that drips on the cars either pine sap or pine tar, depending on my mood.

I have a variety of terms for the pine sap, but since this is a family board I will pass.

I had no idea there was such a market for bundled pine needles. My neighbor has a deciduous pine that loads my back yard every year. Anyone who wants them can come and get them for free. Heck, I may even pay you to take them and you can call them anything you want!

 

[pamlet]

I voted straw...

Though growing up in Chicago they were needles... but we didn't have the abundance of it like I found in North Carolina after I married... there it was straw...

Now that we're in Texas... I'd love to have that LONG pine straw like we had in Raleigh!!!

 

[Minnie's Mate]

In south Georgia growing up, we called them needles on the tree and straw on the ground. In north Georgia as an adult, we call them needles on the tree and straw on the ground.

 

[leprechaun]

I don't understand. If a leaf falls to the ground is it still a leaf?

 

[ynottony99]

I don't understand. If a leaf falls to the ground is it still a leaf?

It is no longer a leaf if it is bundled with others and sold as mulch!!!!!

 

[Fish Almighty]

I don't understand. If a leaf falls to the ground is it still a leaf?

A meteor is a chunk of space rock in the sky. A meteorite is a chunk of space rock on the ground. Go figure.

 

[Minnie's Mate]

A meteor is a chunk of space rock in the sky. A meteorite is a chunk of space rock on the ground. Go figure.

YOU GOT IT!!!!!!!

I think it is part coloquialism. It appears to be the Lower South, excluding Florida and Tennessee, that refers to the stuff on the ground as straw vs. the stuff on the trees as needles.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I think Florida can be considered a northern state considering how many yankees have been transplanted there. I have no explanation for Tennessee.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

How sad that we have nothing better to do on this forum than discuss pine needles/straw. We are now on page 3!

 

[Minnie's Mate]

I think Florida can be considered a northern state considering how many yankees have been transplanted there. I have no explanation for Tennessee.

Well, Tennessee did add "you'uns" and "a car with a flat tar" to the American Lexicon. I'm sorry, I'm not picking on Tennesseans, I know we Georgians have our share of vernacular idiosyncrasies too.

 

[ynottony99]

You know, it occured to me earlier that what we have here is a 'straw poll'

Sorry I just had to say it!!!!