What Americans Call Fritos in the UK: A Linguistic Journey
When it comes to Fritos, Americans have a unique love for these corn snacks, but unfortunately, you can't just walk into a UK store and buy them off the shelf. In the UK, Fritos are rare, and the only way to get them is through an eBay premium or by importing them from other countries.
So how do Brits refer to these corn snacks, or are they even aware of them? In the UK, we call them corn snacks or corn crisps. While Fritos Corn Chips would be acceptable as a trade name, it's more common to simply say Fritos.
If you ask a British person to describe these snacks, they might use the terms Doritos or tortilla chips.
Understanding the British Snack Terminology
In the UK, the term crisps is used to describe what Americans call chips. So, when it comes to the American term corn chips, British people might think of it as a type of fried potato, which is made from maize. But for most Brits, this sounds strange and almost foreign.
Terminology in Context
The term corn chips is technically meaningless in the UK, as it is a strictly American term. However, many Brits recognize such terms, and the usage of ‘crisps’ in place of ‘chips’ is becoming more common. For example, you might find a bag of ‘Tortilla Chips’ in a supermarket, and the supermarket in question is actually a German brand!
The History of Corn Snacks
These corn chips in North America are generally referred to as Doritos or tortilla chips in the UK. I have never seen a single bag of corn chips advertised in the UK. In the UK, corn has a different meaning in every country. In the USA, "corn" is often used as a shortening of “Indian corn”.
Word History and Usage
The word “corn” in English originally referred to any rounded grain or seed. In particular, it referred to the kind of grain most often grown in a certain region. In England, a cornfield usually refers to a field of wheat. The pretty blue cornflower is a Eurasian weed that originally plagued fields of wheat, not maize.
In Scotland, corn can mean maize, which is the plant Zea mays and its seeds. When the English first encountered Zea mays in the 16th century, they borrowed the Spanish term for the grain, maíz, which is a borrowing of Arawakan manis or mahíz.
Later in the 17th century, another term for maize appeared: Indian corn. The word Indian here indicates corn in the specific sense of Indian corn.
Understanding the world of corn chips and Fritos is like exploring a linguistic journey. From Fritos to doritos, and from maize to corn, the differences in terminology and usage highlight the vast cultural and linguistic diversity in snack consumption around the world.