# Did anything like the "Freedom Fries" incident happen before? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772 "2006-06-07T18:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/1 "2006-06-07T18:11:48Z")
The minor incident with boycotting French originated items like fries and wine a few years back. Due to France’s unwillingness to participate in the Iraq war . Did anything like that happen earlier in the century? Maybe against German merchandise or against things with german names during WWII? ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/2 "2006-06-07T18:13:26Z")
Saurkraut as “Victory Cabbage” in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/3 "2006-06-07T18:20:14Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > Saurkraut as “Victory Cabbage” in WWII. Right cabbage; wrong war. From a World War One site: > [@](#): > > The British royal family is now called the House of Windsor because during the war hostility to all things German led them to change their name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The same trend in the United States led to a temporary substitution of the word “liberty” in expressions that had quite innocent German associations. Hamburgers became liberty sandwiches. Sauerkraut became liberty cabbage. And German measles became liberty measles. I might add actor Norman Kaiser changed his name to Norman Kerry, and actress Marguerita Fischer changed hers to the less-Germanic looking “Fisher.” ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/4 "2006-06-07T18:22:13Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Right cabbage; wrong war. Dang! :smack: And I was so proud to have been first to post “Victory Cabbage”, too. I’ll just go and sit in my corner now. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/5 "2006-06-07T18:26:21Z")
> [@BluePitbull](#): > > The minor incident with boycotting French originated items like fries and wine a few years back. Due to France’s unwillingness to participate in the Iraq war . Did anything like that happen earlier in the century? Maybe against German merchandise or against things with german names during WWII? Also it’s happened since. In Iran for a while (possibly still) the pastries-formerly-known-as-“Danishes” were “Flowers of the Prophet Muhammad”. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/6 "2006-06-07T18:31:49Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Right cabbage; wrong war. From a World War One site: > > I might add actor Norman Kaiser changed his name to Norman Kerry, and actress Marguerita Fischer changed hers to the less-Germanic looking “Fisher.” German Spitz (dog) renamed American Eskimo probably because of WWI - [cite](http://www.eskie.com/naeda/naeda_history.html), [notacite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Eskimo_Dog) ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/7 "2006-06-07T18:33:41Z")
Another example would be the name change from “frankfurter” to “hot dog” during WWII. [Here are some examples from outside the US](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fries#In_other_countries). ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/8 "2006-06-07T18:52:14Z")
What we now call “French Toast” was “German Toast” until WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/9 "2006-06-07T18:59:56Z")
And, of course, Mary Pickford’s and Douglas Fairbanks’ real names were “Mary Bajonettbaby” and “Douglas Mordkrankenschwestern” until 1917. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/10 "2006-06-07T19:10:54Z")
German shepherd’s got called Alsatians for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/11 "2006-06-07T19:15:01Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > German shepherd’s got called Alsatians for a while. They still \*are \*here, in large measure. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/12 "2006-06-07T19:22:50Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > What we now call “French Toast” was “German Toast” until WWI. That would explain the age-old question as to why it’s not made from French bread. …but it’s not made from pumpernickel either. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/13 "2006-06-07T20:12:53Z")
Salsbury steak for hamburger (WW2) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/14 "2006-06-07T20:13:18Z")
The thagomizer was originally known as the gruggolator, but Grugg regained favor by alerting Chief Mock to the schtupping of Mock’s daughter Nini by the aforementioned Thag. And the rest is prehistory. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/15 "2006-06-07T20:42:49Z")
We changed it back to “sauerkraut” back in nineteen dickety two. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/16 "2006-06-07T21:09:31Z")
During WWI dachshunds became liberty pups. They were also beaten in the streets and pet owners were sometimes encouraged to euthanize them :mad: ☹ :mad: . ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/17 "2006-06-07T21:32:58Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > We changed it back to “sauerkraut” back in nineteen dickety two. We called it dickety b/c the Kaiser had stolen our word twenty. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/18 "2006-06-07T21:54:57Z")
From 1953-1958 the Cincinnatti Reds baseball team was known as the “Redlegs” so they wouldn’t be confused with Commie baseball teams. I have a dim memory from that time that my father tried some fancy new salad dressing and said “Hell, this is just Russian dressing with a different name.” ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/19 "2006-06-07T21:56:29Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > What we now call “French Toast” was “German Toast” until WWI. Cite, please? I believe it’s called “French Toast” because it’s coated with an egg, just like “Chicken French.” Same reasoning behind the name “French Vanilla.” ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772/20 "2006-06-07T22:08:54Z")
WWI in Hawaii The Big Five land/sugar company changed from H. Hackfeld and Co. to American Factors (Amfac) Honolulu’s main department store was changed from B.F. Ehlers’s to Liberty House (now Macy’s) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anything-like-the-freedom-fries-incident-happen-before/359772.md?page=2)