People in the US and the UK don't always agree with one another, especially when it comes to language.

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If you travel — and eat! — one thing you will quickly find is the different ways of talking about potato snacks.

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And don't try telling people from either side of the Atlantic Ocean that they're wrong!

When you're using American English in the US, you'll go into a fast food restaurant and ask for a burger and "fries" — or maybe "french fries."

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You may even have heard servers in movies ask the famous question: "Do you want fries with that?"

But in the UK and Ireland, you should order a burger with "chips" to get the same thing.

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However, people in the UK will know what french fries are! And they do sometimes use this word to describe the long, thin, chopped potatoes you'll get from fast food restaurants.

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But "fries" would never be used to talk about thicker, fluffier English "chips."

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Now, here's the other thing: In the US and Canada, "chips" — or "potato chips" — are the flat, cold, circle-shaped snacks you get in a bag with different flavors from the grocery store.

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But in the UK, these are called "crisps."

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And in Australia and New Zealand, it's a little different again. They call the thin fast food potatoes "fries" — but the thicker fries are "hot chips." And cold potato chips in a bag are just "chips."

 

Who knew the simple potato could be so complicated?