# Two questions about the British name "chips"... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2015, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183 "2015-03-17T09:13:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/1 "2015-03-17T09:13:25Z")
1. Generally, modern fries don’t look anything like any other type of thing I call “chips”. Did they use to? 2. Fish and chips and potato chips were invented around the same time. Given that, how did fish and chips end up keeping its name in the United States while still leaving the word “chip” open for potato chips? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/2 "2015-03-17T09:52:47Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > 1. Generally, modern fries don’t look anything like any other type of thing I call “chips”. Not even [wood chips?](https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+chips&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) > [@](#): > > 1. Fish and chips and potato chips were invented around the same time. Given that, how did fish and chips end up keeping its name in the United States while still leaving the word “chip” open for potato chips? Weren’t potato chips independently invented in the US, and called that there (“Saratoga Chips”) _before_ F&C made it over from the UK? So a better question would be why “fish and chips” _didn’t_ morph into “fish and fries” - probably Victorian-American Anglophilia is at the heart of it. That and proper chips aren’t like the _usual_ French fry. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/3 "2015-03-17T09:57:20Z")
Fries are the matchstick type. Chips are bigger - much bigger. What Americans call chips we call crisps. I believe that crisps are a far later invention (1853) than chips (pre 1800). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/4 "2015-03-17T10:39:13Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I believe that crisps are a far later invention (1853) than chips (pre 1800). _Chips_ are earlier, _fish-and-chips_ as a particular, dedicated, retail combo seems to be contemporaneous or possibly even later (1860 being the best date I could find) ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/5 "2015-03-17T11:08:37Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Fries are the matchstick type. Chips are bigger - much bigger. I always picture “chips” as looking like what I’d call “home fries,” round fried potato slices. What do they look like really? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/6 "2015-03-17T11:16:16Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > What do they look like really? You’ve never had fish and chips? Wow, you’ve missed out. Hot chips (as we tend to call them, to distinguish them from potato chips here) are [chunkier](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=hot+chips&num=100&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=gQwIVfzZOojp8AX194DIAg&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1432&bih=855), or occasionally even crinkle-cut. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/7 "2015-03-17T11:36:21Z")
Brits will eat Chip Butty’s: basically a French fry sandwich, which no American above the age of four would eat. Americans eat PB&Js, which Brits think appalling. John Lennon’s comfort food was chips and fried eggs. Elvis’s was fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Lennon died two years and eight months younger than Elvis, close enough for comparison: there was never a “Fat John” era. Ergo: French fries aren’t as nasty a peanut butter. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/8 "2015-03-17T12:43:51Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > You’ve never had fish and chips? Wow, you’ve missed out. > > Hot chips (as we tend to call them, to distinguish them from potato chips here) are [chunkier](https://www.google.com.au/search?q=hot+chips&num=100&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=gQwIVfzZOojp8AX194DIAg&ved=0CB0QsAQ&biw=1432&bih=855), or occasionally even crinkle-cut. Well, the “fish and chips” pictures I’ve seen look just like what you’d get from Long John Silver’s: french fries and battered fish filet. So, yes, I guess I have had them. I was confused about the “much bigger” part as they just look like regular fries to me. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/9 "2015-03-17T12:44:04Z")
I would assume that American “chips” comes directly from the UK chips. They seem to have been invented as a super-thin version of chips, supposedly because a customer kept sending his order back because they were too thick. In any case, 'french fries" is a much later term, [only becoming popular in the 1960s](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=potato+chips%2Cfrench+fries%2CSaratoga+chips%2Cfried++potatoes&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&search_plus_one=form&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cpotato%20chips%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfrench%20fries%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CSaratoga%20chips%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfried%20potatoes%3B%2Cc0). It may have been tied in with the frozen food industry, which marketed frozen fried potato sticks and French fries. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/10 "2015-03-17T13:00:49Z")
> [@TheChileanBlob](#): > > I was confused about the “much bigger” part as they just look like regular fries to me. A typical hot chip is considerably larger than a french fry, in fact maybe as much as four fries put together. Before we adopted the US nomenclature, fries were commonly labelled [“shoestring” chips](http://shop.coles.com.au/online/national/mccain-superfries-potato-chips-shoestring-frozen). ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/11 "2015-03-17T15:11:22Z")
Last time I had F&C across the pond, the chips were more Red Robin and less McDonalds. So more “steak fries” and less “shoestring.” ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/12 "2015-03-17T15:17:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not even [wood chips?](https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+chips&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) The way I’ve thought of it, I envisioned someone chipping bits of potatoe off with a chisel, much like you might chip pieces off of wood. > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Brits will eat Chip Butty’s: basically a French fry sandwich, which no American above the age of four would eat. Americans eat PB&Js, which Brits think appalling. I’ve eaten them, and the SO says I’m _nine!_ ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/13 "2015-03-17T15:33:37Z")
Fish and Chips is dated to the 19th century based on the formulation of the name for a dish which is quite a bit older. Chips must have been well known before then, and likely were rather large pieces of potato until slicing tools were invented, and I’d assume slicing tools were needed to make US potato chips practical. The original chips for F&C were probably cut to a size where they’d cook in the same time as the typical piece of fish being fried. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/14 "2015-03-17T15:38:01Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > A typical hot chip is considerably larger than a french fry, in fact maybe as much as four fries put together. Before we adopted the US nomenclature, fries were commonly labelled [“shoestring” chips](http://shop.coles.com.au/online/national/mccain-superfries-potato-chips-shoestring-frozen). Chips are more like fat french-fries. Where a typical McDonald’s french fry is maybe a bit larger than a quarter-inch on a side (~6mm), a chip is more like 5/8" wide by 3/8" thick, and several inches long. Ore-Ida Steak Fries that you get in the freezer section aren’t too far off. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/15 "2015-03-17T15:56:42Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Fish and Chips is dated to the 19th century based on the formulation of the name for a dish which is quite a bit older. Chips must have been well known before then, \*\*and likely were rather large pieces of potato until slicing tools were invented, and I’d assume slicing tools were needed to make US potato chips practical. \*\* The original chips for F&C were probably cut to a size where they’d cook in the same time as the typical piece of fish being fried. Slicing tools have been around for a million years, give or take. They’re called “knives.” 😛 George Crum invented the potato chip using only a chef’s knife. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/16 "2015-03-17T16:57:49Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Slicing tools have been around for a million years, give or take. They’re called “knives.” 😛 > > George Crum invented the potato chip using only a chef’s knife. Sure, but if you have a restaurant and need to make these things in quantity you won’t find it practical to be cutting shoestring fries and potato chips without _specialized_ cutting tools. Which is something I’m sure you realized I meant, but of course this is the Dope and slight ambiguities like that cannot be left to fester into the great sliced potato controversy of 2015 🙂 ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/17 "2015-03-17T17:28:31Z")
You grok well, Grasshopper. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/18 "2015-03-17T17:31:29Z")
Jeeze, a french fry sandwich sounds pretty bland. How are they typically condimented? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/19 "2015-03-17T17:32:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The way I’ve thought of it, I envisioned someone chipping bits of potatoe off with a chisel, much like you might chip pieces off of wood. Or you could use a big hammer, but you gotta crack those suckers just right… ---
**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:** [March 17, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183/20 "2015-03-17T17:48:35Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Jeeze, a french fry sandwich sounds pretty bland. How are they typically condimented? Mayo or fry sauce would be my guess. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-questions-about-the-british-name-chips/715183.md?page=2)