I know it’s a silly topic to rant about, but I’m bored and it’s been bugging me for a week or so.
Jack in the Box has introduced a new product called “Natural Cut Fries.” To go along with the new fries they’ve got a TV and radio spot running; the spot is a faux interview between “Jack” and some guy with a silly fake French accent, with the “interviewer” purporting that Jack must have some problem with the French because he named the product “Natural Cut”, not “French”.
You can get a very well-written history of the french fry here, but here’s what I already knew before I read the article.
- french fries aren’t French, they’re Belgian. (probably)
- They’re called “french fries” (lower-case “f”) because they’re “frenched, fried potatoes” — “french” refers to the cut, not the nationality. Like french-cut green beans.
After reading the wikipedia entry, apparently “french” may also refer to “french-frying”, where the potatoes are fried twice with a rest in between. You can get the whole scoop over on wikipedia (see link above).
Bah. Stupid marketing people.
Brian Tiemann, who writes a good weblog (I really like his Apple entries, and don’t completely disagree with some of his political posts), is similarly peeved with the “Carmel vs. Caramel” thing; the applicable post is here. I won’t even bother to summarize, just read it for yourself. I will say it’s also a “stupid marketing people” issue, though.
