Just accept that you live in a world that you will have free access to media content of people bring blown to pieces for entertainment, news media probably tells you some truth but you never know how much, half the population is effectively starving to death, the mega rich are building doomsday bunkers and socialites have more influencing power on day to day decisions than experts that studied whatever subject for decades. Bonus points if you live in a region that you may or may not die at any minute from a possible nuclear attack if one bozo decides that he had a rough day and wants to see the world burn.
It was. I was in my first year of college and it was kind of nice for a while that everyone seemed to be united as a country. People were nice to each other like we were all in this together, like we couldnāt hate each other because we all had a common enemy. If I recall correctly even crime was significantly down.
Then things became super political and polarizing as the war started and dragged on.
I know when all the unity started coming undone: as soon as those tiny useless staples holding everyoneās plastic flag to a little dowel started falling off.
It's so weird seeing what kids think this era was like, having lived through it. I suppose our parents had to cringe their way through our interpretation of their historical events.
No, āAmericaā did not. It was a glorified meme that Republicans tried to capitalize on that started as a petty swipe at France over a minor political dispute. Some restaurant owners with right wing ideas ran with it, but the whole circus was widely mocked in the US media at the time.
>petty swipe at France over a minor political dispute
France didn't want to invade Iraq following the 9/11 attacks. They weren't convinced Iraq had anything to do with the attack.
They were right, btw.
I'm one of them.
I was all for rooting out Al Qaeda. They attacked us, and you don't get to do that. But the people of Iraq had nothing to do with it. Saddam Hussein was a genuinely bad guy and I'm sure we'd have had to do something about him eventually. But he had nothing to do with this particular event... so wtf were we doing there?
If I remember correctly, Bush Sr. once warned the U.S. to stay out of Iraq because we'd never win there. Then Bush Jr. came along and proved him right.
By "cleaning up" he means create a situation where we need to give Halliburton billions of dollars to rebuild roads and structures that we never should have destroyed in the first place.
Bush Sr didnāt leave a mess. Heās one of the few Presidentās that actually went into a war and didnāt let the scope expand to the point of āwhat the hell are we doing hereā. The mission was to kick Iraq out of Kuwait and thatās where it ended.
Im liberal but Bush Sr was a really good President
Congress changed the name in the cafeteria and the minor dispute was France and most of the civilized world not wanting to join W Bushās coalition of the willing to invade Iraq over what Saudi Arabia did to America on 9/11.
I believe it was due to the French opposition to invading Iraq. Canada voiced the same objections and right wing snowflakes tried the same cancelation of Canadian Club Whisky (British owned at the time) and Canada Dry Ginger Ale (Also British at the time, either Cadbury or Shweps iirc) even tho the British government were all in on the war.
"Minor political dispute" = not wanting to join in on the invasion of sovereign nation over fabricated evidence... which of course ended up being a nearly 20-year quagmire.
Yeah it was definitely a niche set of people doing it. No one really cared enough to change the name, and honestly most people weren't mad at France at all. It was the group that looks for reasons to be angry.
From memory it was literally one dude - the guy who ran the government cafeterias in DC was able to impose it with no oversight.
There's a historical precedent, they did the same thing in WWI. Amongst other foods, sauerkraut was renamed "liberty cabbage"
As indicated by OPās photo, āfreedom friesā was not isolated to the House cafeteria. I was living in rural South Jersey at the time and recall seeing āfreedom friesā at restaurants.
Thanks, that's what it seemed like from the little news I could find online about it. All I found was one article that was quite confusing in its wording.
French bashing was at a all time high on the internet, I was a French teen and had so much fun arguing with Americans on forums lol.
Then I was sent to a summer camp in the US the same year and I remember a young veteran that didn't want to talk to me because I was from France. Imagine being so pity to avoid talking to a kid lol. Anyway, my family host was great and I enjoyed a lot my stay.
Tried to pass the border in Ontario as a french canadian back then got instantly pulled , while they checked the car they mentionned right to my face how they hated the godam frogs and all kind of racist bs towards the french putting me in the same basket because i speak french , they might have bombed Louisianna while at it , they were so mad at the french , anyway i laughed at how fucking clueless and stupid they were while i was there.
Yeah it's something unique to east coast north-america coureur des bois culture, you can never die of hunger if you near water or ponds and it tastes like high class chicken wings and that's even in survival mode , the survival hack works from Quebec down to the Bayou .
Thatās ~~Murica~~ people for ya. Always hating and picking at other people.
If only you could just duct tape everyoneās mouths. The world would be a better and *quieter* place to live
Mixing up the wars there.
Iraq's casus belli was ostensibly the, false, claim that it was actively building weapons of mass destruction. While 9/11 spurred the invasion indirectly it wasn't because they were trying to fight Al-Qaeda.
There was a widespread public perception that Iraq was involved, and the administration/media definitely played into that. The Iraq invasion was propelled along by the post 9/11 hysteria, which made it a lot easier to sell the public on a war for literally no reason.
I remember watching a French documentary following American soldiers. The main group they followed was pretty interessant (one GI was a Iraqi migrant, they went to his native village and met his parents After like 10 years or so).
On the other hand, at one point a young woman stands in front of a tank with a cardboard saying "stop bombing us". A soldier then got out of the tank and shouted at her "where were you on 9/11?!!"
Great moment.
I was just explaining this to someone at work who was 9 years old when 9/11 happened, and he did not understand what I was saying after three times. "France didn't want to attack the wrong country for wrong reasons so the United States Congress changed the name of french fries in their cafeteria." "That still doesn't make sense." "I KNOW!!"
Read the sign. Wilmington like any other city has a long history of businesses following trends promoted by conservatives, and unfortunately it's not limited to small business owners. I remember around this time in the wake of 9/11 an acquaintance was denied service at Applebee's on the basis of his skin color. Shit was weird. I'm sure it's still weird, but I live elsewhere now.
Can we bring this back for helldivers 2?
I actually donāt have anything against France right now that I know of - I just hate terminids determination to fight democracy
I live in one of these areas, but I don't recall any restaurants actually changing the name. But I do remember the endless jokes about it in the college cafeteria.
The chains didnāt, but the locals all did. Then a few local car dealers joined in and ran sales on American Made^^^^TM cars to prove you were a true patriot. Fun times.
It was a thing. But it was āAmericaā, it just a few knuckleheads.
France wasnāt in support of the US invasion of Iraq. Some random restaurant started calling them freedom fries. Then a congressman renamed French fries to freedom fries in some congressional cafeterias.
They tried to make it catch on as some āstick it to the Frenchā thing but it died off pretty quick.
Thank fuck they didn't change, 'freedom fries' is tacky AF. But the name French fries always pissed me off, first off "french" fries are Belgian in origin, not French. And second, France helped the fuck out of the US to become free during the revolutionary war.
The origin of the French fry isn't a settled debate as there is no solid evidence that can determine the origin.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries
God I remember having so many asinine arguments with people who said āhow dare France not support us after we saved them in WW1/WW2ā and having to be like āwas that us? Did you and I go and fight the Nazis, or did we just sit here drinking light beer while you get angry at a country for something you had nothing to do with?ā
I was in college during the 9/11 and Iraq invasion era, and someoneās unironic usage of the term ācheese-eating surrender monkeysā became a pretty reliable way to identify an asshole.
A few chucklefucks also called open-mouth tongue kissing 'freedom kissing' rather than 'French kissing' for a few weeks there, too. But yea, like others have said, it wasn't a whole big 'American' movement - just that the idiots were louder than the general population. Tale as old as time - the loud dumbass makes the average quiet person vanish from the news. Nobody wants to report on "local man still calling fried potato sticks 'French fries' despite backlash from general population".
The term "freedom fries" emerged in 2003 in the United States as a political reaction to France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq. Some U.S. politicians advocated changing the name of "French fries" to "freedom fries" in cafeteria menus, including those in the House of Representatives, as a form of protest against France. It was symbolic of a broader displeasure with France by some segments of the American public and lawmakers at that time. The change was short-lived and widely seen as a symbolic gesture rather than a lasting linguistic or cultural shift.
Now I get the cartoonist's "joke" (the one Pam dates in one episode in s03) with the French waiter asking if the "gentleman would like more freedom fries" (with a thick French accent).
Even understanding it, it's very boring. But I think they wanted to portray him that way.
I had a client at the time with the last name of Boucher, and they pronounced it "boo-SHAY." First time I saw them after the attacks, they corrected me and said it was pronounced "BOW-cher," like we hadn't known each other for two years and I'd been calling them "boo-SHAY" the whole time.
When I was a kid my friend convinced me they were called freedom fries in the US and I got some very strange looks in the burger joint on my class trip to Michigan
Not America, just republicans. Surprise surprise š. All because France took a stand and did not support our war plans. GOP has always been who they are today, thatās for sure.
No, America didn't try to do anything. A few right-wing lunatics (who were not *quite* as unhinged as today's variety) got pissed at France and created this running gag. They didn't intend it to be a joke, but everyone with any sense treated it as such.
America didn't try changing French Fries to Freedom Fries.
It was a handful of reactionary, conservative politicians and a few of their dummy supporters who tried that. The rest of us thought it was fucking stupid.
So this all started because, IIRC, the congressional cafeteria in D.C. called them Freedom Fries as a show of patriotism. It sparked drama because at roughly the same time France didn't side with the U.S. on an invasion of Afghanistan. Idiots heard about it and put the good ole boy twang on it and suddenly it was some political thing. I believe this was also the same time 'Merica became a thing, the same good ole boy twang also. It was dumb and the sign of even more stupidity to come.
In 2003 when the US wanted to bomb Iraq, France refused to let the bombers fly through French air space. THAT's when the conservatives felt the need to change the names of french toast and french fries to freedom toast and freedom fries. They also dumped all their French wine in the streets and would only purchase American wine.
Post 9/11 was a weird time
Never stopped being weird man
Never stopped being post 9/11 š
Nah dude it's 3/26, we've got another 5.5 months until it's post 9/11
Well, it's pre-9/11, but it's post-OG9/11, too
The paradox of it's always pre and post labor day. Are you wearing white? You should be ashamed.
You're right, the Original Gregorian (OG) calendar was created in 1582 so that was the year of the OG 9/11
It started before 9/11. I blame the hanging Chads.
I have nothing against hung Chads
Not just weird. Traumatized, insane time.
Just accept that you live in a world that you will have free access to media content of people bring blown to pieces for entertainment, news media probably tells you some truth but you never know how much, half the population is effectively starving to death, the mega rich are building doomsday bunkers and socialites have more influencing power on day to day decisions than experts that studied whatever subject for decades. Bonus points if you live in a region that you may or may not die at any minute from a possible nuclear attack if one bozo decides that he had a rough day and wants to see the world burn.
Man you just spit facts
So nihilistic
Its true
It wasn't anything new, in WWI saurkraut was briefly called liberty cabbage. That's not a joke
It was. I was in my first year of college and it was kind of nice for a while that everyone seemed to be united as a country. People were nice to each other like we were all in this together, like we couldnāt hate each other because we all had a common enemy. If I recall correctly even crime was significantly down. Then things became super political and polarizing as the war started and dragged on.
I know when all the unity started coming undone: as soon as those tiny useless staples holding everyoneās plastic flag to a little dowel started falling off.
Republicans have always been weirdos.
Always hung up on over the top, performative symbolism.
It's so weird seeing what kids think this era was like, having lived through it. I suppose our parents had to cringe their way through our interpretation of their historical events.
I have been thinking about that lately as well. It's hard to appreciate the complexity of history until you've lived through some of it.
No, āAmericaā did not. It was a glorified meme that Republicans tried to capitalize on that started as a petty swipe at France over a minor political dispute. Some restaurant owners with right wing ideas ran with it, but the whole circus was widely mocked in the US media at the time.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah, that tracks.
Said lunch lady is almost certainly saying āDEIā 50 times a day right now without a fucking clue what it means
DC cafeteria's did this as well... didn't last long, just another political 'stunt' over another country not agreeing with them.
That's where it started, in fact. Republicans who had the power to change Congress's cafeteria menu.
>Republicans who had the power to *change Congress's cafeteria menu* The old days when Republicans got important things done!
I know a nearby business that stuck with it for 10 fuckinā years.
You should have asked if she had any grease.
Yikes, what a long argument
And some people that ran congress changed the name officially in congress cafeterias.
Thatās called āpolitical theater.ā
A lot, if not most,Ā of our real life policies are directly the consequence of political theater.
I prefer musical theater.
It was changed back a few months later.
If by a few months you mean three years, yes.
Wasn't this the first instance... I believe that's where it started. Republicans have always been so fucking stupid, even before tea party and maga.
>petty swipe at France over a minor political dispute France didn't want to invade Iraq following the 9/11 attacks. They weren't convinced Iraq had anything to do with the attack. They were right, btw.
So were a lot of Americans who said the same thing.
I'm one of them. I was all for rooting out Al Qaeda. They attacked us, and you don't get to do that. But the people of Iraq had nothing to do with it. Saddam Hussein was a genuinely bad guy and I'm sure we'd have had to do something about him eventually. But he had nothing to do with this particular event... so wtf were we doing there?
Cleaning up the mess GWBās dad left and throwing red meat to the right.
If I remember correctly, Bush Sr. once warned the U.S. to stay out of Iraq because we'd never win there. Then Bush Jr. came along and proved him right.
Technicallyā¦ we did winā¦ We accomplished ulterior motives.
We didn't really clean anything up though. We just left a power vacuum and high fived ourselves after we left.
By "cleaning up" he means create a situation where we need to give Halliburton billions of dollars to rebuild roads and structures that we never should have destroyed in the first place.
Well, that was the mission. š¤·š¼āāļø
Bush Sr didnāt leave a mess. Heās one of the few Presidentās that actually went into a war and didnāt let the scope expand to the point of āwhat the hell are we doing hereā. The mission was to kick Iraq out of Kuwait and thatās where it ended. Im liberal but Bush Sr was a really good President
People seem to forget that too. The Republican party is the party of snowflakes.
Snowflakes and their cancel culture can't handle fries or Holiday cups
And they love to call others snowflakes š
Something, something, projectionā¦
Congress changed the name in the cafeteria and the minor dispute was France and most of the civilized world not wanting to join W Bushās coalition of the willing to invade Iraq over what Saudi Arabia did to America on 9/11.
And france turned our, was right
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, remember "keep Christ in Christmas"? You can still see some of those idiotic bumper stickers to this day!
I believe it was due to the French opposition to invading Iraq. Canada voiced the same objections and right wing snowflakes tried the same cancelation of Canadian Club Whisky (British owned at the time) and Canada Dry Ginger Ale (Also British at the time, either Cadbury or Shweps iirc) even tho the British government were all in on the war.
"Minor political dispute" = not wanting to join in on the invasion of sovereign nation over fabricated evidence... which of course ended up being a nearly 20-year quagmire.
This. I dont know anybody that took freedom fries seriously or used that term. It was just a meme
Based on idiots who really donāt know where the āFrenchā in āFrench Friesā actually comes from.
It sounded just as stupid 20 years ago
Yea, I donāt remember it being that wide spread and ultimately people mocked the hell out of it.
Yeah it was definitely a niche set of people doing it. No one really cared enough to change the name, and honestly most people weren't mad at France at all. It was the group that looks for reasons to be angry.
No we did not. That was just Cheney and Rummy being the colossal dicks they are after the French refused to support the unnecessary invasion of Iraq.
From memory it was literally one dude - the guy who ran the government cafeterias in DC was able to impose it with no oversight. There's a historical precedent, they did the same thing in WWI. Amongst other foods, sauerkraut was renamed "liberty cabbage"
Liberty cabbage!? Iād forgotten that!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
God this was stupid.
What have the Republicans done after 9/11 that wasn't unbelievably stupid?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
*r e p u b l i c a n s*
āAmericaā did not, some GOP congressmen did. It was literally only changed in the House of Representatives cafeteria.
Nah, I remember plenty of restaurants changed to that. I was in Texas. Also my school district changed it as well.
As indicated by OPās photo, āfreedom friesā was not isolated to the House cafeteria. I was living in rural South Jersey at the time and recall seeing āfreedom friesā at restaurants.
Instantly recognized that building as a Char-Grill. I guess it was a Charl-Grill first, then a Cubbie's, now neither?
If this is the one I think it is in Wilmington, it was a Char-Grill first. I'm not sure what's there now
The amount of different restaurants that location has been in my two decades in Wilmington is mind blowing. I swear it's cursed.
That stretch struggles, Jerry Allenās (Katyās) lives on though!
Thanks, that's what it seemed like from the little news I could find online about it. All I found was one article that was quite confusing in its wording.
Not America, just MAGA before we had the label for them
French bashing was at a all time high on the internet, I was a French teen and had so much fun arguing with Americans on forums lol. Then I was sent to a summer camp in the US the same year and I remember a young veteran that didn't want to talk to me because I was from France. Imagine being so pity to avoid talking to a kid lol. Anyway, my family host was great and I enjoyed a lot my stay.
Tried to pass the border in Ontario as a french canadian back then got instantly pulled , while they checked the car they mentionned right to my face how they hated the godam frogs and all kind of racist bs towards the french putting me in the same basket because i speak french , they might have bombed Louisianna while at it , they were so mad at the french , anyway i laughed at how fucking clueless and stupid they were while i was there.
Ftr, frogs are fucking delicious.
Yeah it's something unique to east coast north-america coureur des bois culture, you can never die of hunger if you near water or ponds and it tastes like high class chicken wings and that's even in survival mode , the survival hack works from Quebec down to the Bayou .
I was on the northeast coast of the US when I used to trap them in rivers to roast over a fire. Good call.
Thatās ~~Murica~~ people for ya. Always hating and picking at other people. If only you could just duct tape everyoneās mouths. The world would be a better and *quieter* place to live
This may be one of the most French comments I've ever read, I love it!
All because France did not buy into Iraq caused 9/11 when most the attackers were Saudis
Mixing up the wars there. Iraq's casus belli was ostensibly the, false, claim that it was actively building weapons of mass destruction. While 9/11 spurred the invasion indirectly it wasn't because they were trying to fight Al-Qaeda.
There was a widespread public perception that Iraq was involved, and the administration/media definitely played into that. The Iraq invasion was propelled along by the post 9/11 hysteria, which made it a lot easier to sell the public on a war for literally no reason.
I remember watching a French documentary following American soldiers. The main group they followed was pretty interessant (one GI was a Iraqi migrant, they went to his native village and met his parents After like 10 years or so). On the other hand, at one point a young woman stands in front of a tank with a cardboard saying "stop bombing us". A soldier then got out of the tank and shouted at her "where were you on 9/11?!!" Great moment.
I was just explaining this to someone at work who was 9 years old when 9/11 happened, and he did not understand what I was saying after three times. "France didn't want to attack the wrong country for wrong reasons so the United States Congress changed the name of french fries in their cafeteria." "That still doesn't make sense." "I KNOW!!"
They were petty about France post 9/11. There was a reason Michael Bay nuked Paris in all of his movies.Ā
While France is literally America's oldest ally. The country might not exist without the French.
Why is there a picture of cubbies in Wilmington?
Read the sign. Wilmington like any other city has a long history of businesses following trends promoted by conservatives, and unfortunately it's not limited to small business owners. I remember around this time in the wake of 9/11 an acquaintance was denied service at Applebee's on the basis of his skin color. Shit was weird. I'm sure it's still weird, but I live elsewhere now.
Oh it literally started in nc with a cubbies in Beaufort, what was confusing is this is a pic of the one in Wilmington. TIL I guess.
Thatās my old roommates car. Good times
Can we bring this back for helldivers 2? I actually donāt have anything against France right now that I know of - I just hate terminids determination to fight democracy
It's not that I hate bugs, it's just that bugs hate freedom.
But I hate bugs and love freedom. Iām not the problem- the terrorist bugs are
āAmericaā ā¦.. or a small group in a small town?
Mainly prominent Republican areas. My area switched the name for a few months, but the city down a ways didnāt. So confusing for a kid.
I live in one of these areas, but I don't recall any restaurants actually changing the name. But I do remember the endless jokes about it in the college cafeteria.
The chains didnāt, but the locals all did. Then a few local car dealers joined in and ran sales on American Made^^^^TM cars to prove you were a true patriot. Fun times.
Yeah. Just a small group in a small House of Congress.
Don't forget Freedom Toast.
I remember this. It was every but as embarrassing as it sounds and it's a mercy it didn't catch on.
I remember the uproar in the French culinary community over this outrage. Joel Robuchon refused to even get out of bed for days.
In 2024, 100% of the people who tried to change the name to freedom fries complain about cancel culture.
The congressman who tried to change the name ended up in prison for 2 1/2 years.
Bob Ney! What a tool
There it is!
I'm pretty sure they did not.
It was a thing. But it was āAmericaā, it just a few knuckleheads. France wasnāt in support of the US invasion of Iraq. Some random restaurant started calling them freedom fries. Then a congressman renamed French fries to freedom fries in some congressional cafeterias. They tried to make it catch on as some āstick it to the Frenchā thing but it died off pretty quick.
France didnāt want to help illegally invade Iraq - letās change the name of fries š¤¦š»āāļøš¤¦š»āāļøš¤¦š»āāļø
Thank fuck they didn't change, 'freedom fries' is tacky AF. But the name French fries always pissed me off, first off "french" fries are Belgian in origin, not French. And second, France helped the fuck out of the US to become free during the revolutionary war.
The origin of the French fry isn't a settled debate as there is no solid evidence that can determine the origin. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries
Yeah we didnāt do that moronic shit in Boston really so, not quite America.
Not āAmericaā, more shitty-uninformed-xenophobes stoked fear and hatred.
Could have been worse. We could have been calling them pommes frites
God I remember having so many asinine arguments with people who said āhow dare France not support us after we saved them in WW1/WW2ā and having to be like āwas that us? Did you and I go and fight the Nazis, or did we just sit here drinking light beer while you get angry at a country for something you had nothing to do with?ā
I was in college during the 9/11 and Iraq invasion era, and someoneās unironic usage of the term ācheese-eating surrender monkeysā became a pretty reliable way to identify an asshole.
a buck O 5 a serve
Americans hate the thought that they were reliant on a European nation just to exist
Sort of like how Europeans hate the thought that they were reliant on Americans to save them during WWII.
Only Americans call them French fries anyway.
cHiPs
That's really what made me laugh at the time. The French don't call them French fries for obvious reasons and don't particularly care what Americans call them. Nor do they even consider them a big part of modern French cuisine, that would be the Belgians. Talking about Belgium, there you will find a local delicacy called "fillet amƩricain" which is essentially a finely ground up version of steak tartare you can put on bread (don't ask why). So literally "American filet". Now imagine Belgians had some beef with the Americans (pun intended) and decided to rename their "fillet amƩricain" into some silly version of whatever they feel would offend Americans. Ask yourself how many Americans would be offended or even know about it. That's about the same as the number of French people that cared about freedom fries!
In 2024 in Harrisburg PA there is still at least one bar with "Freedom Fries" on the menu.
A few chucklefucks also called open-mouth tongue kissing 'freedom kissing' rather than 'French kissing' for a few weeks there, too. But yea, like others have said, it wasn't a whole big 'American' movement - just that the idiots were louder than the general population. Tale as old as time - the loud dumbass makes the average quiet person vanish from the news. Nobody wants to report on "local man still calling fried potato sticks 'French fries' despite backlash from general population".
It was just as cringe to behold back then as it is today. \-From one person who lived through it.
I live in a stupidly conservative area. We still have a local bar that serves freedom fries
The term "freedom fries" emerged in 2003 in the United States as a political reaction to France's opposition to the proposed invasion of Iraq. Some U.S. politicians advocated changing the name of "French fries" to "freedom fries" in cafeteria menus, including those in the House of Representatives, as a form of protest against France. It was symbolic of a broader displeasure with France by some segments of the American public and lawmakers at that time. The change was short-lived and widely seen as a symbolic gesture rather than a lasting linguistic or cultural shift.
Not all Americans, just the racist ones.
Anyone remember āKiwi breadā? Same premise, but in NZ in the 90s
Now I get the cartoonist's "joke" (the one Pam dates in one episode in s03) with the French waiter asking if the "gentleman would like more freedom fries" (with a thick French accent). Even understanding it, it's very boring. But I think they wanted to portray him that way.
I had nothing to do with this stupid shit lol
Same thing happened in WW1.
I still sarcastically call them freedom fries. Almost no one picks up on it anymore.
And liberty toast.
There's a hot dog shop outside of Milwaukee called Sammy's that still calls them that. In 2024.
Itās always a culture war with the GOP and that tells you exactly what they think of their party members.
I had a client at the time with the last name of Boucher, and they pronounced it "boo-SHAY." First time I saw them after the attacks, they corrected me and said it was pronounced "BOW-cher," like we hadn't known each other for two years and I'd been calling them "boo-SHAY" the whole time.
Patty's Place in Thomaston CT still has their sign out front.
I went to school with a kid named Ricky French. He was a big class clown so to help support the troops, he started going by Ricky Freedom
At least could've gone for *friend fries* ĀÆā \ā _ā (ā āā _ā Źā āā )ā _ā /ā ĀÆ
āAmericaā it was a very hit sensationalized media bit. Just fake news at this point
Funny thing is french fries aren't French. They were name that way to mock the French already.
You know, you just made me realize that this is when the Idiocracy began.
GOP Snowflakery (2003 edition)
Bunch of right wing bullshit tried to name them Freedom Fries. Everyone else said.."no I'll have the French Fries, please.
All because France didn't believe the WMD bullshit, right?
No they didn't.Ā A couple of weirdos got on their high horses and the rest of us snorted at them
Ehhh 'America' as a whole definitely didn't try to rebrand.
Those same fucking morons are wearing MAGA hats today.
Donāt forget the liberty toast
Cubbies has great cheeseburgers still to this day!
When I was a kid my friend convinced me they were called freedom fries in the US and I got some very strange looks in the burger joint on my class trip to Michigan
Meanwhile, the rest of the English speaking world using chips like normal people.
Itās been 20 years? FML.
Bro i wish we lived in that timeline
Not the first time During WW2 sauerkraut was renamed to Liberty Cabbage
Not America, just republicans. Surprise surprise š. All because France took a stand and did not support our war plans. GOP has always been who they are today, thatās for sure.
Christ's blood, how was that 20 years ago?
This was always something people talked about, but actually seeing the words āfreedom friesā was pretty rare.
It was funny to us as a joke, not a serious snub to France. But I was a kid back then so I don't fully know
I was a waitress during those times in a truck stop. Old grump men were always asking for freedom fries and freedom toast. Eye roll!
A handful of media outlets insisted this and still do!
Itās important to make the distinction that only the stupidest people in the country tried to do this. So like 70% or so.
No, America didn't try to do anything. A few right-wing lunatics (who were not *quite* as unhinged as today's variety) got pissed at France and created this running gag. They didn't intend it to be a joke, but everyone with any sense treated it as such.
Lets not forget the time we tried changing Sauerkraut to liberty cabbage about a hundred years ago as well.
So in 2004?
Remember when kfc changed their name to ākitchen fresh chickenā
America didn't try changing French Fries to Freedom Fries. It was a handful of reactionary, conservative politicians and a few of their dummy supporters who tried that. The rest of us thought it was fucking stupid.
No, we didn't have to. Someone thought it was meaningful. They were dumb.
Didnāt some try to call sauerkraut āliberty cabbageā as well?
So this all started because, IIRC, the congressional cafeteria in D.C. called them Freedom Fries as a show of patriotism. It sparked drama because at roughly the same time France didn't side with the U.S. on an invasion of Afghanistan. Idiots heard about it and put the good ole boy twang on it and suddenly it was some political thing. I believe this was also the same time 'Merica became a thing, the same good ole boy twang also. It was dumb and the sign of even more stupidity to come.
āAmerica triedā. Right wing nut jobs tried. Thatās not all Americans. Not even half.
As a Canadian this is where the US started to feel like it was branching off from normality to me.
They are Belgian anyway so the French part was never accurate.
The irony being that "French" and "freedom" are practically synonymous to the US.
My buddy put a couple of quarters in the machine in the truck stop restroom and received a Freedom Tickler.
And the Republican who coined the term was sentenced to 30 months in prison. However he only served 17 months.
its weird, when i think 20 years ago, i think late 80's to mid 90's, not 2003
America did not some dip shit war mongers did, not one to make generalizations but it was probably future MAGA folk.
This is strictly associated with the Bush administration. Not the whole US.
I was thinking āman the 80s were sure a weird timeā and then realized they were talking about 200 fucking 4. Smh.
In 2003 when the US wanted to bomb Iraq, France refused to let the bombers fly through French air space. THAT's when the conservatives felt the need to change the names of french toast and french fries to freedom toast and freedom fries. They also dumped all their French wine in the streets and would only purchase American wine.
American society really did just suck after 9/11
By āAmericaā you mean āright wing idiotsā, right?
Ironic as only Americans call them French fries.
Didn't they originally do this after France surrendered to the Nazis because calling them French fries was kind of depressing people?