Pommes frites

[Jim Parish]

Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> The OED says that pommes frites are potato chips; the AHD doesn't have =
> it.
>
> As Barry Popik points out in 2003 =
> (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=3Dind0303D&L=3DADS-L&P=3DR=
> 3392&I=3D-3&X=3D5A86CF318F261388B0), the word has meant "French fries" =
> at least since 1997, perhaps as a translation from Belgian French. There =
> is a discussion at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/544084 as to whether =
> there is a difference between pommes frites and French fries (Wikipedia =
> doesn't think so: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pommes_frites).
>
For what it's worth, the H. G. Wells character in "Time After Time"
(1979) uses the phrase during his
first visit to McDonald's.

Jim Parish

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