But what do we *really* mean by "shelled peanuts"?

Ian shed much light on the pertinence of "shelled" in the term "shelled peanuts," with a degree of details that comes out in members of our family when we're talking about food, the meaning of words, or both.  I had pointed out, in my amateurish way, that "shelled peanuts" seemed like something of a misnomer, since they were peanuts that had actually lost their shells.  But of course, Ian had a fuller perspective on the matter, and without losing any time to reflect on it:

"It actually kind of makes sense when you think of it, because 'shelled' means that something was done to the shells, which, in this case, means they've been removed."

(October 11, 2015)