Castor sugar

[Carol]

Ali wrote:
<snip>
> By the way, Carol, a cator (caster?) is akin to a salt shaker.  I
believe the idea of calling the stuff castor sugar was an indicator of
the sugar that can be poured out the tiny holes of the castors.  BUT I
admit that I have no idea whether it's castor or caster, having seen
both used.

Carol:

Yes. thanks. The link that Montims (Janette) supplied showed me
exactly what a castor/caster is. I looked it up on Merriam-Webster
online (admittedly an American dictionary), which, of course, gave
"chiefly British" after the definition. "Castor" is the preferred
spelling given on that site, but, to me, "castor" suggests castor oil,
so I'll go with "caster" in the unlikely event that I ever need to
request caster sugar in writing.

Carol, thanking everyone for the information and wondering how our two
sister cultures could drift so far apart in everyday things over a
mere 230 years or so