So I was munching some french fries from Idaho that I baked in my toaster oven the other day and as I dipped them into the ketchup I got to thinking "French Fry is really a horrible name for these things." They're not French, these particular ones were not fried, and the name "French Fry" really doesn't describe them in the least.

I munched another, imagining, instead of a boring old "french fry", I was snacking on a tasty "potato finger" (while a poor potato in Idaho toiled away with its now-fingerless stumps, because that's the sort of random thought I have) and figured that "Potato Finger" was really a much more descriptive name - they're made of potato, and you eat them with your fingers, and they sort of look like fingers, too. So henceforth, I shall, at least mentally, refer to the humble "french fry" as the more auspicious "potato finger".

So what things would you like to be renamed?

(P.S. As I was typing this, I typoed "henchforth" instead of "henceforth", and the thought of what that word would mean greatly amused me. What would you define "henchforth" as, and what other interesting typoes can we find amusing definitions for?)

Why not just use the British/Australian/Kiwi word, chip? As in fish and chips. Or, for Kiwis, Fush and chups.

Also Americans should use knickers instead of panties when referring to ladies undergarments. Panties sound like something a five year old would wear.

Because we call crisps chips? (Or crisps, if legally mandated to do so because they're created by pressing potato flakes instead of slicing potatoes.)

Freedom Fries

Because knickers sounds like something my gramma would wear?

Do they still call them that down in texas?

No. Even Texans eventually realized that was stupid.

They do still call them that in Philly. At least at Gino's.

I would like new names for both sets of genitals. Nothing for either sex is all that great, being either too medical or too blunt or too cute.

Also, I hate the man who created the word "infotainment" (also, edutainment). It implies that learning new information or educating oneself is inherently dull. I hate that. How about simply striking the terms from the English language.

Also, yeah, second Kajin on the knickers thing. My granny wears knickers (or "drawers"). I don't wear knickers. I also don't wear panties. I wear underwear, damn it. Just cause it's lacy doesn't mean I'm wearing panties.

NOTE: "Undies." I think that's my compromise word, since I say it all the time.

I try to keep it brief.

I say underpants, because the word sounds inherently humorous to me. And it's also unisex. Underpants! There is also already a great abundance of words for both sets of genitals, are none of them satisfactory?

I can't think of anything I'd like to rename in English at the moment, but I've been recently brushing up on my Chinese and was rather confused to learn that "sau zaang" (sau = arm) refers to one's elbow, but "geuk zaang" (geuk = leg) refers to one's heel. In what way is that logical?

Edited for typoes.

Not that I'm a linguist or proficient at any language bar my own but would it have something to do with the fact that the elbow and the heel are towards the rear of the body while the knee is towards the front?

... also the word 'underpants' makes me think of the Chobits anime.

There is no excuse on God's green earth for the term "webinar."


And none of that commie Heinz on 'em, either! Good honest American W Ketchup!

Yet another reason to stick to Pat's

I liked that anime. A bit too cutesy for my tastes, but still worth a watch at least once.

'French fried' states how a food was cooked, or to say, it was 'fried in the French style'. It is in reference to the French term frite, which basically means something was deep-fried in oil as opposed to just saying 'fried' which usually just means in a pan.

So French fried potatoes became just French fries...and everybody is probably still confused...