Chips, Crisps and Fries The Problem with Potatoes

Level 1 Level 3
İngilizce Öğren LingoVivo News

The linguistic divide between the US, the UK, and other English-speaking countries extends even to the way people refer to potato snacks. In the US, ordering a burger with thin, long potatoes is as simple as asking for "fries" or "french fries." On the other side of the Atlantic, in the UK and Ireland, the equivalent request would be for a burger with "chips." It's interesting to note that while people in the UK understand the term "french fries," it is generally reserved for the slender, chopped potatoes found in fast-food establishments. The term "fries" would never be used for the thicker, fluffier English "chips."

Adding another layer to this linguistic maze, in the US and Canada, "chips" refer to the flat, cold, circle-shaped snacks commonly found in bags at grocery stores, known as "potato chips." However, in the UK, these are called "crisps." In Australia and New Zealand, the terminology takes a different turn: the thin fast-food potatoes are "fries," the thicker ones are "hot chips," and the cold potato chips in a bag are simply "chips." The humble potato snack, it seems, has its own complex language.

Questions

1- What is the equivalent term for "french fries" when ordering a burger with thin, long potatoes in the UK?

2- In the US and Canada, what do they call the flat, cold, circle-shaped snacks in a bag?

3- What is the term used in Australia and New Zealand for the thicker fast-food potatoes?

Congratulations!

You have completed the comprehension questions. 

Parts of this lesson are based on: An article Engoo Daily News.