« The 1984-85 miners' strike | Main | An economic analysis of Janet Jackson's bosom »
February 04, 2004
Would you like wholemeal crackers with your wheat grass?
I'm going back a few years now, but I remember my brother, Dave, in between jobs one time, took up a position as assistant manager at McDonalds in South Yorkshire somewhere (Sheffield, I think). It was a bit of an eye-opener for him, and he struggled coming to terms with certain aspects of the corporate culture, not least of these being the reference to 'fries' rather than 'chips'. Having to say this went against the grain somewhat, but this wasn't the only problem. Saying the word 'fries' in a Brummie accent comes out as 'froys'. This presented communication problems with some of his Sheffield customers and, on one occasion, he had to resort to saying the 'chips' word under his breath. These days, of course, US linguistic imperialism is such that saying fries is 'cool' and it is generally understood in any accent. However, an article published in the New York Post recently, Arch enemy, suggests that the good old American fry (and its various complements) may have seen its day.
McDonalds has become a popular target for the anti-MNC lobby in recent years, and this story will no doubt assist their cause. Meanwhile, the BBC reports today that another US corporate icon is in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. In an article, India finds pesticides in colas, it appears that Indian MPs have upheld the findings of an environment group which reported that Coca-cola and Pepsi drinks contained pesticide residues. The irony, of course, is westerners travelling to India are strongly advised to avoid drinking the water.
Posted by jeremy at February 4, 2004 09:47 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.jeremybwilliams.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/81
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)