August 4, 2006
On Freedom Fries Posted by Joshua Zeitz at 03:55 PM EST In what surely ranks as one of the more puerile moves executed by the United States Congress, in the months preceding the Iraq War, House Republican leaders ordered all congressional cafeterias to change the term “French fries” to “freedom fries” on menus and price boards. Bob Ney, the embattled Ohio Republican who then chaired the House Administration Committee, which oversees the House cafeterias, explained that members were simply conveying “the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France.” France had not joined the “Coalition of the Willing,” you see. According to the Washington Times, in recent days the House has nonchalantly allowed its cafeterias to revert to “French fries.” It seems that we are in need of a little help from the Palais Elysée in resolving the troubles in Lebanon. This reminds me of World War I, when familiar edibles like hamburgers and sauerkraut were renamed “liberty sandwiches” and “liberty cabbage.” This was part of a larger assault on all things German. The governor of Iowa, for instance, signed an order banning spoken German on public streetcars, while in Wyoming a man who publicly uttered “Hoch der Kaiser” was hanged, cut down just seconds short of death, and compelled by an angry crowd to kneel and kiss an American flag. In the long run, it didn’t work. Ninety years later, hamburgers are still hamburgers, and sauerkraut is still sauerkraut. But maybe we should meet the Republicans half way. Let’s just call French fries by their English designation, “chips.” The British are, after all, part of the Coalition of the Willing, though the vast majority of British voters, like the vast majority of American voters, clearly think the Iraq war was a ghastly mistake
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