According to Fox News Washington House of Representatives Capitol Hill cafeterias now only serve “freedom fries”.
So why don’t they just call them by their correct name instead?
Chips.
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No more french friesMarch 12th, 2003 |
 21 comments to No more french fries |
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Then what’ll we call the thin-sliced, salted things?
And if you say “crisps”, I’ll come over and put a boot to your ass.
Anyway, the correct name for the original issue should just be “fries”. Most of us Americans don’t say french fries anyway. They’re fries.
When I first read the story, I thought it made the US Congress look petty, silly and small. After a moments reflection I decided that while the Congress is can certainly be petty and silly from time to time, the smallest thing they do costs somebody a billion USD. The French might do well to think about that. After Saddam, they stand to be the biggest losers in the upcomming war.
Just being pedantic – but here’s the Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary definition of ‘french’ (note lower case F): ‘To cut vegetables into thin lengthwise strips before cooking’. They’re called french fries because those poor little potatoes have been frenched before being further tortured in a vat of boiling oil. It’s got zip to do with Les Grenouilles.
I’m torn between being pissed off about this as a completely inane thing to do, and celebrating the fact that this is better than letting do their actual real job.
I’m wondering how much pork will get loaded onto this, and if it’ll affect their cholesterol.
Crisps
(Look forward to seeing you soon Keith).
Compromise idea – call the thin, salty things ‘flakes’.
Or maybe ‘to french’ should be ‘to flake’. I assume, since in England we call scissors that give the fabric they cut a zigzag edge ‘pinking shears’ that we could start calling ‘crinkly chips’ or ‘crinkly french fries’ by the handier, shorter name of ‘pinks’?
Good to see my representatives are handling the big questions instead of passsing that tax cut.
Never let it be said that Congress can’t work together when a worthless issue is in front of them.
I’m still waiting for the people who come up with silly ideas like this to start demanding that the Statue of Liberty be sent back.
From scrappleface:
Congressional Chef Renames Chicken-Fried Steak
(2003-03-11) — Just a day after the head chef of the U.S. Congressional cafeterias changed the name of French Fries to Freedom Fries, he announced France would still have a place on the Congressional menu.
That’s because chicken-fried steak has been renamed “French-fried steak.”
“We didn’t want to completely exclude the French after their great historic contributions to the fields of cuisine and combat,” the chef said. “I might add that our customers can still order French Dip Sandwiches.
Mark Twain said it best:
Imagine you are an idiot.
Imagine you are a Member of Congress.
But I repeat myself.
Hmmm… Pommes frites originally come from Belgium, but I doubt that will soothe our friends across the pond.
But the best course of action as regards fries is the one advocated at the Surrenderfrogs site.
Just when I think that the U.S. government can’t embarass me any more…
This is extremely reminiscent of how “German” stuff was renamed after America started fighting in World War I. In fact, apparently the NC man who came up with it got the idea from a history prof who told him about the WWI renamings.
Now they’re calling it freedom; back then they called it liberty: liberty cabbage for sauerkraut, liberty measles for rubella. I know people couldn’t have stopped having rubella before the vaccine was invented. But if you hate a place so much, why keep consuming what they’ve originated, or what you’re under the false impression that they’ve originated?
(“The French Embassy in Washington had no immediate comment, except to say that french fries actually come from Belgium.”)
That WWI history is not much to be proud of, as it caused a lot of anti-German discrimination that went beyond renaming food. At its worst, a mob lynched a German-American baker for “disloyal utterances.”
I’m guessing there’s not much need for most of these guys to call it “freedom kissing.”
We know things are getting bad in Congress when the Bugman from Sugarland sounds comparatively dignified and statesmanlike:
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said at a news conference that applying legislative sanctions to France was not necessary. “I don’t think we have to retaliate against France. They’ve isolated themselves pretty well,” he said.
And still, no one has figured out how inappropriate it is to boycott only the nations whose leaders are siding with the United States against their own people’s wishes. Boycotting British food wouldn’t be much of a loss, but don’t expect me to give up my Jane Austens.
What about French-kissing? Is it now to be called Freedom-kissing? As in: “I thought we had something going until I caught her freedoming my sister.”
How is this any more ridiculous than the Académie Française trying to keep English words out of the French language, or the odious language laws in Quebec which are designed to preserve the primacy of French? I always found it odd when I read that the Académie insisted on “disque audionumérique” for “compact disc” (despite the fact that it’s a perfectly descriptive term for the discs) — but allowed cédérom for CD-ROM.
To paraphrase de Gaulle’s comments he made in Quebec in the 1960s, “Vive le Québec! Vive le Québec unilingue et anglophone!” 🙂
… so you want to sink to the level of the Academie Francaise now?
They’re well known in much of France as a bunch of stuffy uptight academics. Don’t think the average Frenchman has stopped saying weekend just ‘cos they decreed it should be so. On the other hand, i’m prepared to bet many Americans are right behind these stupid Freedom fries.
And on the topic of Freedom, would it be better served if the French government knuckled down to the the US line, rather than reflecting the opinion of the majority of French (and British) people? Regardless of whether you find war a good idea or not, i find this a strange definition of freedom indeed.
The level of Francophobia expressed on this site is ridiculous and I expect much more from a site which is usually capable of generating interesting and stimulating debate.
AT:
I guess I didn’t make my point clear enough. I think that *both* the renaming of French Fries *and* what the Academie does are ridiculous. The problem is that many of the people (especially in European opinion elites) who think what the US Congressmen did is dumb are generally the same sort of people who whinge on about American “cultural imperialism” and the need to “protect” people from European culture.
So….where can I buy some freedom ticklers?
I’ve not said much on this because it is pretty silly. But there is an issue to think about. Many europeans dis america and americans almost reflexively. Americans, by and large have either not been much aware of it or have ignored it. When the shoe is on the foot though… zacre bleu!
Silly or not, I think many americans have just reached a level at which some steam must be let loose and some verbal and other responses made. There is a bit of tit for tat here. Those who give must learn to be on the recieving end as well.
I certainly don’t wish any genuine hatred to build up on our side. But I would like those who have dissed us with impunity to get a taste of their own back. It might make them more polite in the future.
One must be very careful with crossing lines: Remember. Louisiana Cajuns are *our* people, and anyone who disses them for being francophone should get their butt kicked. I mention this because it has been reported that some idiots have done precisely that.
Goes to show how bad government schools are when people manage to grow up so stupid they can’t tell the difference.
I’m not defending this knee-jerk US-dissing, and without a doubt it does go on, all over Europe… but there’s a difference between the underdog dissing the powerful one (anyone in Europe having a go at americans), and the dominant ones having a go at people who have less power.
It’s like the difference between Chris Rock making jokes about white people, & your dodgy mate who tells nigger jokes…. ok! not quite as severe as that, but the stakes are not equal on both sides.
Actually, a more reasonable analogy would be the way the English routinely tolerate (with some understandable resentment) Scottish anti-Englishness, but you don’t find loads of people telling anti-Scottish jokes in London. Err.. “taste” is the best way I can put it.
Oh.. i dunno! dis the French if you must… get it out of your systems…..
What’s the difference between the French and a piece of toast?
You can make soldiers out of a piece of toast.
And on a more serious note, it’s not as though anyone’s acted in a seriously anti-American manner over this… the insulting has largely been *from* the American side; if Chirac chooses to follow a path which diverges from the American one, even if it’s down to corrupt motivations (show me a politician or government that’s squeaky clean & free of dubious influences), as the leader of a free country, he has that right, especially if it reflects the will of the majority of people in his country. To my mind, any definition of Freedom which means that Chirac has to go against what he and the French people think is a bizarre one indeed.
Power asymmetries? Isn’t that neo modernist feminist transnationalist speak? In any case, I reject that concept out of hand. I reserve my right as a unique individual to give back to any other unique individual as good as I get. Fullstop. Do unto others as they do unto you as it were. Who they are is irrelevant (so long as they aren’t better armed than I am at the time 😉
I personally think the issues with the american chips is a bit silly, but its’ certainly not a harmful way of congresscritters sending a message. It’s not as if they’ve passed a law saying anyone else has to do the same.
Just like no one has passed a law saying I shouldn’t buy french wines or cheeses. I won’t. And I’ll suggest to others that they also don’t.
France is free to do whatever it wants. And I am free to show my feelings about it. Chirac is trying to make America pay a cost for going against his wishes. So it’s plenty fair enough to dish it right back at him.