# Jojo fries **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802 "2010-05-17T19:36:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smartyjosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@smartyjosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smartyjosh)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/1 "2010-05-17T19:36:17Z")
I’m originally from KY, but have moved to the Seattle area. Recently I have encountered “jojo fries” which seem to be nothing more than spiced potato wedges. My friends are insistent in calling them jojo’s, but this term grates upon my ear for some reason. I’m trying to convince them that potato wedges is the more appropriate term, as it does not sound so diminutive. What is the history of calling them jojo’s? Is there something that differentiates them from normal potato wedges? ---
**Author:** ![Amblydoper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/fbc32d/32.png) [@Amblydoper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amblydoper)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/2 "2010-05-17T19:42:54Z")
Just a regional name. You say potato, I say potato. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/3 "2010-05-17T19:46:27Z")
I have ALWAYS wondered about that. In high school only the desperate ate the school lunch in the cafeteria - the rest of us sat in the courtyard and either brought it from home or ate out of the vending machines. (And now I want a Cookies and Cream Hershey bar.) So they’d read the lunch menus out on the PA and every week there would be the Great Potato Life Cycle - you know, start out with baked, end up on Friday with mashed or worse. Somewhere in the middle there was always “jojo potatoes” and we never, ever knew what the hell those were. We’d snicker about it endlessly, but nobody was going to _go to the cafeteria_ to find out so it has remained a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/4 "2010-05-17T19:47:27Z")
[Shakey’s](http://www.shakeys.com/) calls them Mojo potatoes. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/5 "2010-05-17T19:48:31Z")
Jojos for life. there’s a bar in Helena Montana that makes the MOSt amazing jojos ever. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/6 "2010-05-17T19:54:48Z")
Never heard of these. Is “jojo” pronounced like “Joe, Joe” or like “Hoe, hoe”? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/7 "2010-05-17T19:59:14Z")
> [@groman](#): > > Never heard of these. Is “jojo” pronounced like “Joe, Joe” or like “Hoe, hoe”? Like Joe, who prior to becoming a famous potato chef, went out with a gun in his hand. Seems he’d caught his old lady messing around with another man. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/8 "2010-05-17T20:00:22Z")
At least one restaurant on Long Island (Flavor Crisp Chicken in West Islip) calls them jojo’s. I do not know if it’s regionally accepted in New York or if it’s just that one restaurant. ---
**Author:** ![SurveyorAlpha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@SurveyorAlpha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurveyorAlpha)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/9 "2010-05-17T20:27:23Z")
Western South Dakota, they are jojos here as well. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/10 "2010-05-17T20:31:10Z")
Lived in New England, Chicago, and Tennessee for long periods of time and never ever heard of “jojos.” ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/11 "2010-05-17T20:37:48Z")
Northeastern Ohio: jojos are very popular. Seem to be particularly associated with restaurants selling fried or broasted chicken, as **bup** notes. Many pizza shops have jojos, too. Don’t like them, myself. Everybody knows what broasted means, right? ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/12 "2010-05-17T20:53:51Z")
Grocery stores around San Francisco sell jojo potatos along with their deli fried chicken. They’re not just plain wedges - they’re battered and fried and spiced. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/13 "2010-05-17T21:03:04Z")
> [@groman](#): > > Never heard of these. Is “jojo” pronounced like “Joe, Joe” or like “Hoe, hoe”? It’s pronounced [like](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedor_Jeftichew) [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUeO876XMqg). 😉 > [@smartyjosh](#): > > My friends are insistent in calling them jojo’s, but this term grates upon my ear for some reason. I’m from L.A. (obviously). Down there they were called ‘potato wedges’. It took me a while to accept ‘jo-jos’ when I moved up here. It still sounds funny. Not that it matters, because I rarely eat them. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/14 "2010-05-17T21:07:03Z")
I grew up (Vancouver, Washington) eating $0.99 servings of jojos from the Minit Mart (convenience store) on St. Johns. Never actually saw them called jojos anywhere other than convenience store hot cases in the Northwest. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/15 "2010-05-17T21:22:23Z")
> [@smartyjosh](#): > > I’m originally from KY, but have moved to the Seattle area. Recently I have encountered “jojo fries” which seem to be nothing more than spiced potato wedges. My friends are insistent in calling them jojo’s, but this term grates upon my ear for some reason. I’m trying to convince them that potato wedges is the more appropriate term, as it does not sound so diminutive. Yeah, good luck with trying to convince people who live in a large city where everyone calls them “Jojos” that they should change what they call them because you’re not familiar with the name. You may meet with resistance. While you’re at it, you should also try to convince them that they’re pronouncing “geoduck” and “Puyallup” wrong. Also, “Seattle” should really be called “Sealth”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/16 "2010-05-17T22:21:04Z")
Our local grocery has them at the deli counter under the name “Jolo Potatoes”. I don’t know where the hell that came from, since as far as I knew they were just “potato wedges”, or as we called them back in my alma mater, “Squidgies.” ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/17 "2010-05-17T22:25:45Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Grocery stores around San Francisco sell jojo potatos along with their deli fried chicken. They’re not just plain wedges - they’re battered and fried and spiced. Same thing in Salt Lake, both grocery stores and some gas stations sell them in the heated snack display area, along with fried chicken, corn dogs and other similar food-like items… ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/18 "2010-05-17T23:04:27Z")
I am in TN and I remember them being on the school lunch menu from the time I was a kid until I worked for the city schools. They also advertised them in the grocery store delis for a long time but I haven’t seen them called by name recently. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/19 "2010-05-17T23:11:14Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Same thing in Salt Lake, both grocery stores and some gas stations sell them in the heated snack display area, along with fried chicken, corn dogs and other similar food-like items… In western Maryland, we had a carry-out place that sold pizza, fried chicken, baked beans, and jojo’s. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802/20 "2010-05-17T23:15:26Z")
> [@smartyjosh](#): > > I’m originally from KY, but have moved to the Seattle area. Recently I have encountered “jojo fries” which seem to be nothing more than spiced potato wedges. I think they’re lightly battered too [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jojo-fries/539802.md?page=2)