Freedom Fries and Toast

[Supercharts]

French Fries Get New Name in Congress
15 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!

By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - House cafeterias will be serving fries with a side order of patriotism Tuesday with a decision by GOP lawmakers to replace the "French" cuisine with "freedom fries."

"This action today is a small but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France," said Rep. Bob Ney (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, chairman of the House Administration Committee.


Ney, whose panel oversees House operations, ordered the House Administrative officer to change the menus in House office building cafeterias to read "freedom fries" and "freedom toast."

[zakur]

They stole this idea from a restaurant in North Carolina:

http://host.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14557

[headscratcher4]

Based on German opposition to Bush, I wonder if they'll change the name of Hambergers?

[Occasional Chemist]

Originally posted by Supercharts
a decision by GOP lawmakers to replace the "French" cuisine with "freedom fries."

So, is this the right-wing vision of "politically correct"?

[gnome]

Today my cafeteria at work was selling "European Onion Soup."

[PogoPedant]

Excellent. Now if they only get rid of that Statue of Liberty...

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by headscratcher4
Based on German opposition to Bush, I wonder if they'll change the name of Hambergers?

I believe they did that during WWI

Liberty steaks, I think they called them.

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by Occasional Chemist


So, is this the right-wing vision of "politically correct"?

Yes it is.

[corplinx]

If they cut those freedom fries out of their diets then the house may get a little less fat. Cut out the potatoes and the corn guys, dump the starch.

[aerocontrols]

Originally posted by PogoPedant
Excellent. Now if they only get rid of that Statue of Liberty...

Maybe we should start packing it up to ship to Basra.

MattJ

[Tmy]

Des Moines Iowa has been renamed Hicksburg.

[headscratcher4]

Kitchner Ontario, I think, was once either Berlin or New Berlin Onatrio...

[Nikk]

Originally posted by corplinx
If they cut those freedom fries out of their diets then the house may get a little less fat. Cut out the potatoes and the corn guys, dump the starch.

If they get stressed then they could take freedom leave. An afternoon with the pretty intern could start with a freedom kiss and if course if they get lucky a freedom letter could come in handy. (sorry the last term may too archaic!)

[arcticpenguin]

Originally posted by Tmy
Des Moines Iowa has been renamed Hicksburg.
Don't you think keeping the name and continuing to pronounce it incorrectly is a more severe punishment?

Dez Moynez
Dee Moyn


I'l bet the haute cuisine-loving French are thrilled that we finally renamed French Fries, which were never French anyway.

[Advocate]

During the World Wars a lot of things with German names or with the word "German" in the name were renamed. Didn't they call German Shepherds Alsatians for a while? I think we are starting to see this with all things French now. Did we ever do this with any country we were NOT at war with before? I don't even recall things with Russian names changing during the Cold War. But then again I wasn't born when the Cold War started and I grew up near St. Petersburg, Florida.

[Scorpy]

I guess now they'll be trying to "Freedom Kiss" their interns instead of French kissing them? :D

[Frank Newgent]

Freedom fries? Qu'après? Before we are all required to submit rectal scans as the biometric requirement for a new national ID, I'd suggest that GOP lawmakers actually read how French fries (http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/2001/05/16/fp16s1-csm.shtml) got the name.

Belgians typically fried the fish they caught in the Meuse River. But - so the story goes - severe ice one winter made fishing impossible, so French-speaking Belgians cut potatoes into the shape of small fish and fried them instead.

A Belgian entrepreneur named - what else? - Frits allegedly opened the first fried-potato stand (friterie) in Brussels, creating a tasty snack and cultural icon in one fell swoop. Today, Belgium is home to more than 7,000 friteries.

So why the French fry and not the Belgian fry? Could it be because we already have Belgian endive and Brussels sprouts? Actually, several explanations have emerged:

1. Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and US ambassador to France, reportedly introduced a dish of "potatoes, fried in the French manner" at a dinner party at his Virginia home, Monticello. His guests loved them.

2. The term "Frenching" also refers cutting potatoes into narrow strips.

3. American soldiers fighting in World War I discovered friteries in Belgium, but since the language used was French, the Americans mistakenly named the treat French fries.

Likewise,French toast (http://www.stratsplace.com/rogov/french_toast.html)

First made at a roadside tavern not far from the city of Albany in 1724, there are few dishes more truly American than the breakfast favorite known as "French toast". So American is the dish that very few can understand why it is not called "American toast", "Albany Toast" or even "New York State toast".

The confusion comes about because the owner of the tavern at which the dish was invented had a very poor knowledge of grammar. When Joseph French decided to name the dish after himself he should have written his invention as "French's toast" (that is to say, the toast of French). Because he did not know how to use the possessive apostrophe, however, the dish appeared on his menu simply as "French toast". In short, the dish has nothing whatever to do with French culinary history but in the two hundred and seventy years that have intervened, no one has taken the time to correct the grammatical error.

According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, the word Bush has its origins, partly, in Old French: bois or wood (of Germanic origin).

Thinking of suitably absurd substitutions, how about *****?

[Advocate]

Frank,

Sounds like French('s) Toast got its name the same way German('s) chocolate cake did. So we can continue eating them. ;)

[HarryKeogh]

what are the french going to call "american cheese"?

[kourama]

Is it me or is america a heartbeat away from 'victory gin' and 'victory cigarettes'?

In order to control the masses, you must control their minds. To control their minds, you must control their language.

I get a sick feeling in my guts when I hear the term 'freedom fries' I really do.

[kourama]

Originally posted by headscratcher4
Kitchner Ontario, I think, was once either Berlin or New Berlin Onatrio...

Anyone remember "Schwastika, Alberta"? I heard that the mayor of this town was quoted as saying something like:

"Hitler be dammned. We were called schwastika long before the nazis, and we will be called schwastika long after" or something like that.

[John Bryce]

Kitchner Ontario, I think, was once either Berlin or New Berlin Onatrio

Berlin to Kitchener (http://www.archives.ca/05/0518/05180204/0518020404_e.html)

[rockyroad]

Even better is the town of Swastika Ontario, located here: http://uk.multimap.com/wi/59353.htm

Give them credit for their early 1900's name, much before the Nazi Party gave it a bad name. They refused to change their name during WWII or after - that takes nerve.

[renata]

Reminds me of that stupid Fishkill (http://www.cnn.com/US/9609/06/fishy.name/index.html) /Fishsave controversy. Idiocy is not party specific.


I can't believe we are about to go to war, the economy is in the crapper, gas prices through the roof, unemployment increasing, everyone hates us, Congress gave Bush the powers to do whatever the hell he wants with Iraq, we may send thousands of Americans into battle, there will casualties on all sides and potentially repricussions for years to come, we are fighting a war on terror, and these F*cking morons are getting busy changing the menu. The idiots are

Walter Jones, R-North Carolina http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=442&lvl=C
Bob Ney, R-Ohio http://yahoo.capwiz.com/y/bio/?id=477&lvl=C

[Sanamas]

While we're at it, let's get rid of all the words that were added to English from the Norman Conquest.

Since Germany is also opposed to the war, let's also get rid of all the words that have their origin in a Germanic language as well.

[Scorpy]

Originally posted by Sanamas
While we're at it, let's get rid of all the words that were added to English from the Norman Conquest.

Since Germany is also opposed to the war, let's also get rid of all the words that have their origin in a Germanic language as well.

Yikes!! English IS Germanic! :D

[Frank Newgent]

Next to a school by a crossroads in northern Wisconsin was a cinder-block establishment. A sheet of plywood leaning up against it was spray painted with the announcement: Master Bait

[kourama]

not really ot, but an interesting tidbit:

Ever wonder why the Germans call themselves "deutch" and we call 'em germans?

The root of the name "Dutch" is teudor, that's what the Romans called them. When they came across the Germans, they said "Oh, these guys are the same as the Dutch", but they way they put it was "These guys are of the same seed as dutch". "Same seed" was condensed to "Germani", hence Germans.

How 'bout Greeks? The Greeks call themselves Hellans. They were slaves to Turks for about 500 years. The Turkish word for slave is "Greco". So, we are techincally calling 'em "slave".

Chinese people call themselves "Tong-yan". The Ching dynasty is what westerners associate China with, but the Chinese prefer to remember the Tong dynasty.

[Sandy M]

Oh, good grief! Does this mean we have to start calling German Sheperds "Alsatisns" again? And think of all the people with their FRENCH Poodles (which are actually GERMAN dogs). Doubly heinous!!:rolleyes: "Euro Poodles?"

[Plutarck]

Originally posted by kourama
Is it me or is america a heartbeat away from 'victory gin' and 'victory cigarettes'?

In order to control the masses, you must control their minds. To control their minds, you must control their language.

I get a sick feeling in my guts when I hear the term 'freedom fries' I really do.

Kourama, clearly you are in desperate need of a stay in The Ministry of Love, to straight out your obviously confused and diseased mind.

[DialecticMaterialist]

How stupid.....the right has lost any connection to common sense.

[Questioninggeller]

SCREW THOSE POLITICIANS, I STILL EAT FRENCH FRIES AND FRENCH TOAST... Freedom anything-that proves this is a game of words, not prinicples.

[Lisa]

I had some nice herbed brie on crackers for a snack tonight.:D
Like Renata said: look at all the problems this country is facing right now. And these guys have their panties in a bunch over fast food? Did they just wake up one morning and say "Today I shall make myself look like an idiot on a national scale?"
I haven't been reading any op-ed pieces lately. What's the read on the rest of the country? (If the answer is "America applauds", don't even answer. Too depressing)