French fries back on House menu

[Colon™]

French fries back on House menu
French fries are back on the menu in the US House of Representatives, three years after the name was ditched in favour of "freedom fries."

House Republicans renamed fries and French toast in 2003 to protest at France's opposition to the war on Iraq.

The patriotic name change hit the headlines at the time but the change back is getting much less coverage.

A House official would only say that fries are no longer being offered under the "freedom" nomenclature.

The Washington Times newspaper contacted aides of the two congressmen behind the move to "freedom fries " to see if they could shed light on the change back.

"We don't have a comment for your story," a spokeswoman for Republican representative Bob Ney told the newspaper.

At the time, Mr Ney, who together with Walter Jones pushed for "freedom fries", said the action was "a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France".

The move followed the lead of a North Carolina restaurant whose owner said he got the idea from similar protest action against Germany during World War I, when sauerkraut was renamed liberty cabbage and frankfurters became hot dogs.

The switch to "freedom fries" was seen as reflecting the anti-French sentiment among some lawmakers who felt President Jacques Chirac betrayed the US by opposing its policy on Iraq.

The Senate cafeterias never changed their menus.

A spokeswoman for the French embassy asked about current French-US ties told the Washington Times that the two countries were working closely on the Middle East.

"Our relations are much more important than potatoes," she said.

"French fries are back on the menu in the Capitol, back on the presidential dinner menu and our relations are back on track."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...as/5240572.stm

Published: 2006/08/02 21:38:53 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Is this an implicit admission that the French were right? Also, shouldn't they have made use of the opportunity to rename them to Belgian fries?

[SlowwHand]

Fries.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Colon™
Is this an implicit admission that the French were right? Also, shouldn't they have made use of the opportunity to rename them to Belgian fries?

You already have a waffle, don't push it.

[Dinner]

This whole Freedom Fries thing shows just how stupid most of the people in government really are. I imagine it also says something about the people who vote for them.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Oerdin
This whole Freedom Fries thing shows just how stupid most of the people in government really are. I imagine it also says something about the people who vote for them.

I always hoped it was some tiny sign that the politicians involved had some sort of sense of humor.

[SlowwHand]

I took it as sense of humor, while shoving it up France's ass in implication.

[atawa]

Where is the Dutch fries option?

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I took it as sense of humor, while shoving it up France's ass in implication.

In otherwords, you took it seriously.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Colon™


Is this an implicit admission that the French were right? Also, shouldn't they have made use of the opportunity to rename them to Belgian fries?

I think it's more of an implicit admission that the name change was ridiculous, myself.

[Cort Haus]

How about 'Gallic Splinters'?

[SlowwHand]

Originally posted by General Ludd



In otherwords, you took it seriously.

I never ordered "freedom fries". So in other words, BZZZZ! Wrong answer!

[Q Classic]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I took it as sense of humor, while shoving it up France's ass in implication.

I'd believe that, if only Ney hadn't been so serious about it.

Also, if it had actually been funny. Which it wasn't. It's the kind of joke a retarded ex-GNAA NAMBLA HARDMAN dumbass would try to pull, only with worse timing and panache. The kind of joke that you look at the person and then say, "You're a ****ing retard."

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


You already have a waffle, don't push it.

Kerry was teh Belgium? Here I thought he was teh French.

[BeBro]

French

French fries

Beer

[SlowwHand]

French beer? I thought they were into wine.

[Lord Avalon]

French Fries

It just goes to show that you can't keep their deep-fried, obesity-inducing, potatoey goodness down.

[Blaupanzer]

Why are they called "French" fries? Not that I thought the name change was anything but blather, funny in its own way.

[BeBro]

We call them Pommes Frites anyway

[alva]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


You already have a waffle, don't push it.

But we don't even eat waffles ourselves!!!

[SlowwHand]

Origin

The logical explanation of the origin of the North American name of the dish is that it derives from potatoes that have been "fried in the French manner". The English verb fry is ambiguous: it can refer to both to sautéing and to deep-fat frying, while the French pommes frites or patates frites ("fried potatoes") refers unambiguously to deep frying.

Some feel that the word "french" in "french fries" refers to the verb "to french", which means "to cut in thin lengthwise strips before cooking" (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Ed.) On the other hand, "to french" is defined as "to prepare, as a chop, by partially cutting the meat from the shank and leaving bare the bone so as to fit it for convenient handling" (Oxford English Dictionary) in other dictionaries, seeming to suggest that the meaning of this process is not necessarily as set as it may appear. In addition, the verb "to french" did not start appearing until after "french fried potatoes" had appeared in the English-speaking world.

Other accounts say that they were once called 'German fries' but the name was changed either for political reasons (Germany was the enemy of the United States and Allied forces during WWI and WWII) or for simple historical reasons (a traditional theory poses that it was in France during World War I that American soldiers first encountered the dish). This seems unlikely, as Germany was not as famous for its "french fries" as other European countries, in addition to the fact that German immigrants did not seem to bring the dish over to the United States.

The Belgians are noted for claiming that french fries are Belgian in origin, but have presented no absolute evidence; the French have also been cited as possible creators of the dish, though most in France associated fries with Belgium. The Spanish claim that the dish was invented in Spain, the first European country in which the potato appeared via the New World colonies, and then spread to Belgium which was then under Spanish rule. However, as Belgian immigrants lived in Spain at the time, it may have well been a 'Spanish' dish invented by a Belgian chef. Whether or not french fries were invented in Belgium or Spain, they have become the national dish, and they (Belgium) are the "symbolic" creators, at least for the rest of Europe. Another claim is that the inclusion of the word "French" in the fried potatoes is most likely a confusion as to the nationality of those who introduced the food to American and Canadian soldiers in World War I. When American and Canadian soldiers were stationed in southern Belgium, where many major battles of World War I took place, they were served "pommes frites". Since the region of Belgium the soldiers were in was predominantly French-speaking, the soldiers brought the dish back to North America incorrectly as "french fries".

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by BeBro
French

French fries

Beer

Mexican beer (dont ask)

Liberty cabbage

Boardwalk fries

Boardwalks

Saltwater Taffy

Turkish Taffy

Turkish Taffy, my EU AAR about the Ottoman empire, being generally ignored

Not being able to play Paradox games, cause the laptop is in the shop


Getting Colonization to play on the ancient desktop

Tech problems with Colonization

Playing colonization for Dos instead

[snoopy369]

Colonization

Hot Dogs

[Colon™]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Getting Colonization to play on the ancient desktop

Tech problems with Colonization

Playing colonization for Dos instead

Not getting the mouse to work in DOS on ancient desktop and therefore being condemned with constant crashes by playing it in Win 98.

[Winston]

French fries are called pommes frites here, or actually "pomfritter", which, now that I think about it, has a slightly naughty ring to it when typed on an English-language board..

[SlowwHand]

while the French pommes frites or patates frites ("fried potatoes") refers unambiguously to deep frying.

I knew it. French at heart.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by atawa
Where is the Dutch fries option?

Yeah! Patatje speciaal

Actually, French fries is the only good thing we got from Belgium. And the saxophone of course

[SlowwHand]

What else is there?

[Winston]

Sprouts.

Again, I'm reminded of the Monty Python sketch where a TV-show host asked viewers to call in with their suggestions for a derogatory term for Belgians. "The Sprouts" was tabled, as was "The Phlegms", and one caller thought they shouldn't be called anything at all, just ignored. But in the end, they decided the winning entry was clearly "Miserable fat Belgian bastards".

Yeah, sprouts, and divine inspiration for crazy comedy shows.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
What else is there?

Hey! Without Adolphe Sax's invention there wouldn't be a music scene in Austin

[SlowwHand]

I mean, what else worth a damn do they have to offer?
A hunk of metal?