Pommes frites

[Benjamin Barrett]

It appears you're partly right. The OED requires two cross-links to find a definition, and both have additional meanings and links, making it quite confusing. After reading them three times, I get that definition.

However, the cross-link from "pommes frites" goes to "potato chip" which is defined as both "chip"and North America "potato crisp." So I think "pommes frites" is being defined as both.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Jan 22, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

>
> At 1/22/2012 01:17 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> The OED says that pommes frites are potato chips; the AHD doesn't have it.
>
> But isn't this merely the OED's British usage, where "French fries"
> are generally called "chips"?  (But sometimes "fries".)  U.S. "potato
> chips" are there called "crisps".
>
> Joel
>
>
>> As Barry Popik points out in 2003
>> (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0303D&L=ADS-L&P=R3392&I=-3&X=5A86CF318F261388B0),
>> 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).
>>
>> The word "pommes frites" has currency in restaurants in Seattle. I
>> have used the word to refer to a dish that a restaurant calls
>> "pommes frites." The word definitely has a high-faluting connotation
>> and can be used to refer to Mickey D's dish only in a joking way.
>>
>> The spelling of the singular is not yet fixed. I think "pomme frite"
>> would be the French spelling, but  "pommes frite" and "pommes
>> frites" are also found on Google.
>>
>> Googling on "a pomme frites" gets only one hit that is possibly
>> relevant: "Order a pomme frites anywhere in Quebec and they'll do a
>> double take and take a second to figure it out."
>> (http://www.fark.com/comments/6513026/71338958#c71338958)
>>
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Seattle, WA

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