Should the “f” in “French Fries” Be Capitalized?

You probably know that you’re supposed to capitalize proper nouns, including the names of people, places, and organizations. So it goes without saying that the name of the country France should be capitalized. But what are the rules of capitalization when we’re talking not about the country itself but instead about some deliciously crispy potatoes from McD’s?

“french” not “French”

In general, words that are derived from place names but are not actually referencing the place itself should be lowercase, not capitalized.

The Chicago Manual of Style puts it this way: “National or geographical names, and words derived from such names, are often lowercased when used with a nonliteral meaning.”

Since most french fries don’t actually come from the country of France, we can safely assume that the word french fries uses a nonliteral meaning of french. Therefore, no capitalization is needed! Similarly, you wouldn’t capitalize brussels sprouts, but you would, of course, capitalize the word Brussels when referring to the Belgian city.

Here are some more examples of words that are derived from proper nouns but are used in a nonliteral way (and thus should not be capitalized; list source: The Chicago Manual of Style):

• arabic numbers
• bohemian
• bordeaux
• brie
• burgundy
• champagne
• cheddar
• delphic
• diesel engine
• dutch oven
• epicure
• frankfurter
• french dressing
• french windows
• gruyère
• herculean
• homeric
• india ink
• italicize
• italic type
• jeremiad
• manila envelope
• morocco leather
• pharisaic
• platonic
• roman numerals
• scotch (but Scotch whisky, a product of Scotland)
• stilton
• swiss cheese (when it’s not made in Switzerland)
• venetian blinds
• wiener

Down Style vs. Up Style

Some dictionaries and style guides might say to capitalize words like swiss cheese or roman numerals. That’s because they utilize the “up style,” whereas The Chicago Manual of Style prefers the “down style.” Basically, that means that Chicago would tell you, “When in doubt, use lowercase,” while some other guides might say to capitalize instead.

Chicago calls this preference the “sparing use of capitals” and even notes that not everyone agrees: “Although some of the terms in this paragraph and the examples that follow are capitalized in Webster’s, Chicago prefers them lowercase in their nonliteral use.”

Merriam-Webster acknowledges that both styles are possible. Notice that this dictionary prefers the “down style” (with a lowercase f in french) but lists the “up style” variant with a capitalized F in French below it.

However, Merriam-Webster prefers Swiss cheese (with a capitalized S) even though Chicago prefers swiss cheese since that kind of cheese doesn’t always come from Switzerland.

So wait…if the dictionaries don’t even agree with each other…what are we supposed to do??

The most important thing is to be consistent. Whether you decide to adopt down style or up style, use that style throughout your entire text.

Personally, I think you can be correct either way as long as you can defend it, and I find it easier to defend down style. After all, we’re not really talking about the country of France when we say “french fries,” and no one would assume that all swiss cheese comes from Switzerland. Since we’re not referencing the countries, we don’t need to capitalize them.

The Only Times You WOULD Capitalize “French” in French Fries

There are a couple of times when the country or place name should be capitalized:

• When the item literally comes from that country
• When the name is actually a company or brand name
• In a title or heading

My brother-in-law bought us some beautiful bowls when he visited Japan, so those are our Japanese bowls. “Japanese” in this situation is not just a style or type of bowl; the bowls are literally from the country of Japan, so I would capitalize the name in that case.

Scotch tape might sound like it’s made in Scotland, but it is, in fact, manufactured in Minnesota and Kentucky. Despite the fact that the tape is not truly “Scotch,” we should capitalize the name because that is the company’s name. It’s still a proper noun because it’s the name of the brand.

You might be calling me a hypocrite because I capitalized “french fries” not once, not twice, but THREE times throughout this blog post. However, that’s just because I used the word in a few headings, so heading-style capitalization was required.

Personal Names are a Different Story

Place names should be lowercase when used in a nonliteral sense, but PERSONAL names are another story.

Even the down-style-preferring Chicago Manual of Style agrees that “adjectives derived from personal names are normally capitalized.”

For example, a book written by Charles Dickens is a “Dickensian book,” not a “dickensian book.” Someone who believes in the political ideologies of Karl Marx is a “Marxist,” not a “marxist.” You get the gist—places can be lowercased when used as nonliteral adjectives; personal names are almost always capitalized.

Are French Fries Even French?

Here’s the TRULY scandalous thing about french fries: They might not even be French!

According to this National Geographic article, french fries may have originated in Belgium. American soldiers living in Belgium during World War I may have discovered them there and named them “french fries” because the most commonly used language in that area was French. Now, Belgium has more french fry vendors per capita than any other country in the world, and they also have the world’s first French Fry Museum. If nothing else, that museum’s gotta be proof of their claim on the tasty snack.

It’s possible that french fries really did come from France, as the snack was sold by street vendors as early as 1780.

However, a third possibility is that they were invented by the Spaniards who came across the South American potato in the 1550s. One conquistador wrote about the boiled potatoes that the South American natives ate, and it’s possible that he brought the potatoes home to Spain. Frying foods in oil is common in Spanish cuisine, so that could have been the first fried potato.

And here’s just one more amusing tidbit for ya: For a while, America tried to re-name them “freedom fries.”

When America invaded Iraq in 2003, France refused to support the action. To protest their lack of support, Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio wanted to rename french fries “freedom fries” and french toast “freedom toast.” This pretty much only caught on at the House of Representatives cafeteria, and most people thought it was a strange and meaningless effort. These “freedom foods” officially switched back to french fries and french toast in 2006.

If you have any questions about capitalization, drop them in the comments, and I’ll do my best to find the answers!

Sources:

• The Chicago Manual of Style. 17th ed. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2017.
• Einsohn, Amy. The Copyeditor’s Handbook. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: Univ of California Pr, 2011.
• Rupp, Rebecca. “Are French Fries Truly French?” Culture, January 8, 2015. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/are-french-fries-truly-french.