Freedom Fries

hi, I am going to Paris in May. I was talking to some friends about ordering food in a restraunt and how I might get something crazy cus I dont speak or understand much French. One of my friends said just tell them you want some Freedom fries and everything will be ok. I laughed and alot of people did but I really didnt get it. What are freedom fries?

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It%26#39;s something that a bunch of idiotic, reactionary, hyper-testosterone-charged Americans started calling French fries after the French government dared to defy the Bush administration and not attack a country that didn%26#39;t have any biological or nuclear weapons after all.

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oh, ah, i get it. they must have been joking cus they are all pretty much against the war as well.

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Since your not going until May, you still have plenty of time to pick yourself up a phrasebook that will be quite useful!

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If you want fries, write %26quot;frites%26quot; on a piece of paper and hand it to the waiter. It%26#39;s pronounced %26quot;freetz.%26quot; You%26#39;ll also see them served with mayonaise and also in a sliced roll. It%26#39;ll resemble a sandwich.

%26quot;Freedom Fries%26quot; will make few French laugh in France. The U.S. is the biggest source of foreign investment in France and that level of investment has plunged in the last couple years. This hurts especially when France is now suffering 10% unemployment and double the US inflation rate. Your common French person wants nothing to do with politics and to keep the US $$$ flowing in. They typically detest Bush, however, they also realize that Chirac is quite a pr*ck like Hillary Clinton, opposed to everything about a certain entity/person rather than thinking through things independently. They seem a bit sick of politics at the moment.

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I agree with Canuck. Get yourself a phrasebook. Lonely Planet%26#39;s is not bad as it will tell you the names of various sorts of food, hoping as I do that you will avoid places with menus in English wherever possible. Remember to be very polite when ordering and call the waitstaff %26quot;monsieur%26quot; or %26quot;madame%26quot; when you go to order. It doesn%26#39;t hurt to say something like:

%26quot;Monsieur, s%26#39;il vous plait, je voudrais [le salade au chevre chaud - ie name the dish]%26quot;

Which is roughly pronounced:

%26quot;Msyew, sill voo play, je voo-dray le salard Oh shev-ra showed%26quot;

excuse me purists - that should get you a very nice French style mixed salad with goats cheese at Au Rendezvous des Amis at 10 rue Ste Croix de la Bretonnerie in the Marais area for about 10 Euros. If you are like me, the waitstaff will say %26quot;would you like me to speak English?%26quot; when they hear your appalling French.

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By the way, what the Americans call %26quot;French%26quot; fries are known here as being belgium. None would claim for frites (pronounce freet) citizenship : )

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faux,

try UNE salade and the waiters may stick with french.

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The name does not come from the fact that their origin is French, but because the potatoes are %26quot;frenched%26quot; -- cut into lengthwise strips.