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First France, then French Fries?

I thought the "First Iraq, Then France" bumper sticker was silly,

but then I heard about "Freedom Fries".

You can get fries with your order at Cubbie's, but just don't ask for french fries. "Because of Cubbie's support for our troops, we no longer serve french fries. We now serve freedom fries," says a sign in the restaurant's window.

I wonder whether anyone's done a "Freedom Fries" bumper sticker yet? That's one I'd buy! (Via Amish Tech Support.)

Umm....How much do you think you'd pay? :)

Man, France-bashing seems to be more popular than Iraq-bashing these days. I recently heard the French referred to as a bunch of "cheese-eating surrender monkeys."

During WW2, "cole slaw" was renamed "victory cabbage."

Put a picture of Saddam chowing down on a large McFries while Uncle Sam glares at him over his red-white-and-blue container of Freedom Fries and I'll pay you your $3.

The sticker I really want right now is one that says "SUPPORT THE TROOPS, STOP THE WAR". Just to make it clear who I'm not against.

People just look for reasons to hate the French, don't they? If I'm not mistaken, aren't the Germans against war in Iraq as well? Shouldn't we also be protesting against sauerkraut on our hotdogs?

What a connection: Why Germans Oppose War in Iraq - French Fries

Lawrence "Twisted Mentat" Simon of Amish Tech Support sends me these additional de-Frenchified terms:

French vanilla ice cream: Vanilla-bean ice cream
French bread: Crusty bread
French fries: Fries
French toast: Battered toast
French braid: Topsytwist
French kiss: Tongue kiss
French Stewart: Whiny Geek Stewart
Pardon my French: Pardon my Italian
Franco-American: Americanned Foods
French-cut Bikini: Hip-cut bikini
Brussels Sprouts: Snotweeds/Snotballs

Anna, thanks for the interesting CommonDreams.org pointer. As to your sauerkraut question, I think the anti-French impulse has more to do with the stereotype of French snootiness than with any reasoned political analysis. If reason were involved, the makers of bumper stickers would recognize that popular opinion is against the war in most of Europe and the particulars of which governments are resisting the US move toward war have mostly to do with which governments feel secure enough domestically and internationally to represent their own people.

Okay, languagehat has reminded me of the bumper sticker I'd really and truly pay $3 for:

Cheese-eating surrender monkeys!

And in the spirit of fairness, he proposes that "barking scrotum monsters" should be the epithet du jour for Dubya and his gang.

And the term I'd use to describe establishments such as Cubbies' would be "Inbred Cracker Morons".

y'all are forgetting that when you're eating 'hotdogs' you're really eating a frankfurter. the name was changed during world war 1 because of anti-german sentiment. sauerkraut was also renamed 'liberty cabbage'.

I don't think anyone's really forgetting "liberty cabbage" and the like. I assume that "freedom fries" etc. are an homage. But the sentiment against the German language during WWI was hardly anything to be proud of. It had a few more serious consequences, such as the banning of teaching of German in many states, including here in Texas which had a thriving Texas German culture up to then. The anti-French sentiment right now is mostly just comical by comparison.

However, I will concede one point to the "freedom fries" crew. To my surprise, apparently the origin of the french fry is indeed French (at least according to Cecil Adams). So however I may disagree with Cubbie's xenophobia, at least it's not based on ignorance.

According to the Simpsons Archive (http://www.snpp.com/), the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" was spoken by Groundskeeper Willie in The Simpsons episode "'Round Springfield" (http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F32.html), which first aired 30-Apr-95.

I think it's not hard to find reasons to bash the French-- Chirac's arrogance far exceeds Bush's in my view. Consider his scolding of the prospective EU member countries who had the temerity to speak up on behalf of U.S. policy: "it is not well brought-up behavior, they missed a good opportunity to keep quiet". In my mind, that far outdoes even Rumsfeld's "Old Europe" rant, and comes close to public blackmail.

Hey, Chuck, thanks for dropping by!

I'm no fan of Jacques Chirac and I don't doubt that he's worth bashing. I confess that my gratitude to the French and German governments for trying to put the brakes on Bush's rush to war is made in general ignorance of the internal political context of their actions. I hadn't heard of Chirac's comments to the prospective EU members, which do sound pretty unpleasant. But I also believe it's possible in politics to do good things for petty or self-serving reasons. And I doubt that most of the French-bashers in this country are doing so on the basis of an informed analysis of Chirac and his rhetoric; again I suspect that it's based on a few headlines and (at best) a Simpsons-level conception of the French national character.

Hi Prentiss, thanks for having me.
You've got your own domain... cool! I think if I ever register one, it'll be "maestrodenada.com", which is at least as true of me as "apprendiz de todo" is of you!

I'm sure you're right about most French-bashing here being uninformed. I also suspect that a good deal of America-bashing in Europe is rather uninformed as well. I recently read an essay by Robert Kagan, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on U.S./Europe relations called "Power and Weakness". I thought he was persuasive in explaining the differences in approaches of the two regions. According to his view, the French aren't surrender monkeys and the Americans aren't warmongers--both have understandible, pragmatic reasons for seeing the world the way they do.
If you are interested, the essay can be found at
http://www.policyreview.org/JUN02/kagan.html http://www.ceip.org/files/publications/2002-06-02-PolicyReview.asp

If you get a chance to read it, I'd be interested in your reaction to it. He's now written a book, perhaps it'll be in NYRoB soon.

Enough "bandwidth thieves" have been linking to my copy of the "First Iraq Then France" image that I retaliated by adding credits to the JPG. It was tempting to deal with the issue Heather Champ-style, but actually I don't consider bandwidth "theft" so bad as long as it doesn't melt down my ISP or cross the line into plagiarism. And I do like brie!

why does it matter what to call the food. The way i see it is that you can call them french fries or freedom fries, no matter what you say they are still going straight to your ass. just don't eat fries, fatty!

If reason were involved, the makers of bumper stickers would recognize that popular opinion is against the war in most of Europe and the particulars of which governments are resisting the US move toward war have mostly to do with which governments feel secure enough domestically and internationally to represent their own people.

Reason didn't have a thing to do with it. It was pure marketing.

Absolutely no one was would buy a "First Iraq, Then Belgium" sticker. :)

That's me above, in case you hadn't already guessed.

this is hunter from Spain. I say anyone not committed to eliminate all terrorist from the earth should be managed like a terrorist: DEAD.
my cousin was in Madrid this morning and he's lost his legs. Muslims, ETA and countries supporting them should be purged.

this is hunter from Spain. I say anyone not committed to eliminate all terrorist from the earth should be managed like a terrorist: DEAD.
my cousin was in Madrid this morning and he's lost his legs. Muslims, ETA and countries supporting them should be purged.

Hunter, my sympathy to your cousin and all the victims of the bombings in Madrid. Certainly no cause, whether ETA's or the Islamists' or whoever else might be responsible, justifies this kind of action.

But if I understand what you're saying, then not only those responsible, and not only those who share their goals, but anyone who refuses to join the war on terror as you choose to wage it, should be treated as harshly as the terrorists treat their victims. Which would make anyone who carries out your wishes no better than the terrorists. In fact it would make them millions of times worse than the terrorists, because you've included most of the world in your condemnation.

You can't fight terrorism with terrorism, because if you do, then only terrorists can win.

Actually, the Chinese invented Sauerkraut. They were the first to pickle cabbage. That's why it still is on the Chinese menue.

And while we are at it, French Fries are invented by the Belgians, not the French

From what I can tell on my travels is that everyone hates us. So lets have a screw the world sticker. Lets also boycott everyone except the UK and Austrailia. Lets also take back any foriegn aid. And lets get out of every country we go to help. That will really piss them off.

Allright, I will admit I am of the uninformed. I know something of Chirac's anti-US position, but I am looking for something a bit more solid on france's politics. Just facts, and if you could give me a reference I would appreciate it.