"Buttery" smooth?

[MikeyBugs95]

I know, this had been discussed before but I can't find the thread. But I have to ask...

What's the deal with "buttery" smooth? Not until I've visited this forum have I heard of that phrase. I understand it's used as a descriptor for a very fluid and smooth-running system but I find it to be a sort of misnomer. In all my years of using, handling and otherwise dealing with butter I've never known it to be the "smoothest" material, or even foodstuff, out there. I would think an even better descriptor would be "teflon-smooth" or "chamomile-smooth" if you prefer flower-derived teas over synthetic coatings. Or even "silky-smooth."

To be frank, if you wanted to use butter as an adjective to describe phones, I'd use it more to describe how slippery, or not, a phone is physically. Teflon could also be used in this sense, as well. "Buttery-slick" or "slippery as butter" could be used in this instance.

Either way, /endrant.

 

[Ranny99]

It's from the old saying about a knife through butter.

 

[Adam Matlock]

I've heard "smooth as butter", but not "buttery smooth", but they both mean the same thing. Butter is smooth and spreads easily. It's just an old fashioned comparison to a quality of butter that is used to describe the performance or execution of something. Like, it went smooth and without any issues = smooth as butter.