National Tell a Joke Day

Happy Gorgeous Grandma Day!

Freedom Fries

From Mental Floss:

Taylor writes: I’m a high school student and my history teacher just told us about how the United States once called French fries “freedom fries” to spite France. Please tell me he’s joking.

Yes, there was a time when some Americans decided to call French fries “freedom fries”—embarrassingly, a number of those people happened to be elected officials in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In early 2003, the United States was in the midst of a (rather unsuccessful) attempt to drum up worldwide support for a potential war with Iraq. While cobbling together a “coalition of the willing,” many historical allies of the U.S. said, “Nope.” One notable dissenter was France, whose officials had been vocally opposed to the imminent conflict. “As we’ve said from the outset,” French Foreign affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin said in January 2003, “we will not join in military intervention that did not have international support… We believe that military intervention would be the worst solution.”

By March, the course had been set. The UN couldn’t find evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but the United States made it clear that invasion was inevitable. War fever grew, and “with us or against us” found its way to the U.S. House of Representatives cafeteria. Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican who was chairman of the House Administration Committee and therefore in charge of operations for the Capitol complex, ordered that the word “French” be removed from all affiliated menus. French fries would become “freedom fries,” French toast “freedom toast.” According to the New York Times, “The action was unilateral.”

Barely a week before U.S. forces (along with troops from the U.K., Australia, and Poland) officially invaded Iraq, a sign was placed in the Longworth House Office Building food court that read, ”Update: Now serving in all House office buildings. Freedom fries.”

“This action today is a small, but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France,” Rep. Ney said at the time.

The idea for the change came from North Carolina Representative Walter B. Jones, who was inspired by Cubbie’s, a restaurant in his home state that had earned a little bit of press after deciding to rename their fries. Jones passed the suggestion on to Rep. Ney, who instituted the change.

When reached for a statement by the Times, a French Embassy spokeswoman said, ”I wonder if it’s worth a comment. Honestly. We are working these days on very, very serious issues of war and peace, life or death. We are not working on potatoes.” She also noted that French fries are, in fact, Belgian.

This wasn’t the first wartime name-switch in U.S. history. In the late ’50s, the Cincinnati Reds became the “Redlegs” in light of the McCarthy era and the Red Scare. During WWI, German measles were dubbed “Liberty Measles.”

Neal Rowland, the owner of Cubbie’s, said his decision to update the menu was inspired after learning about some of these decades-old name-switches. He is pictured above, outside of Cubbie’s. According to Yelp, his Beaufort, N.C. eatery no longer exists.

Rep. Bob Ney resigned from Congress in 2006 for his role in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. (Ney was eventually sentenced to 30 months in jail.) Upon leaving his post as chairman of the House Administration Committee, all the menus in the Capitol and connected buildings were changed, and French fries were finally served again.

SOURCE: MENTAL FLOSS

Happy Father’s Day!

CHEERS to all the Dads out there!

Happy Mother’s Day!

“Just What I Never Wanted…”

Wondering what to get Mom for Mother’s Day this year? Well, surprisingly enough, there’s plenty of articles about what NOT to get Mom. Here’s one I found at scarymommy.com. Enjoy!

From scarymommy.com:

It is a fact not scientifically proven that all moms just want to be given at least a handmade card and then be left the f alone on Mother’s Day. It is not a day in which we want to be given nothing. We want our lifelong, never-ending, 24/7 efforts to be recognized, damnit. But of course, as with everything else, our day inevitably won’t always go to plan; that is scientifically proven.

So we asked you, our dear readers, on both Facebook and Instagram for the absolute crappiest gifts you’ve ever gotten for Mother’s Day, and you didn’t disappoint. Below, in no particular order, are some of the best worst responses we got.

No matter what happens this year: We here at Scary Mommy see you, and appreciate you.

“A pedicure with my mother-in-law”

“Olive oil because my husband thought I’d “really like the bottle it came in.”

“First mother’s day my husband gave me $50 to get that “grill I’ve been talking about.” Yeah, I put it together and made dinner on it too. It’s taken over 20 years, but he’s gotten better”

“A dog hair remover brush”

“Pajamas four years in a row… Please get me anything else.”

“A card that the child was meant to decorate but she was a month old so it was just plain white”

“Deodorant. I actually had wanted to try this new brand, but NOT as a gift”

“A Lazy Susan for the pantry. My husband had also already gotten me a Lazy Susan for Christmas”

“Wiper Blades”

“A gift card for a golf course my husband likes to play at. I don’t golf. Obviously he used it.”

“A mother’s day card after I miscarried. The thought was nice but it hurt more than anything at that point”

“The line that I’m not HIS mother so he doesn’t have to get me a gift”

“An offer to spend “quality” time with my kids by taking them out for a special activity that I would choose and arrange. I’m a stay-at-home mom. So I was offered: Nothing. Absolutely nothing different than I do every day. Yay. Yes, he really thought he was giving a good gift.”

“A vacuum and not a great vacuum either.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity.

SOURCE: SCARYMOMMY.COM

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Today is Jeff Dunham’s birthday. Born in 1962, Jeff is a very talented ventriloquist who has traveled all over the world with his puppets!

My Peeps!

I happen to LOVE peeps, but I know that I am probably in the minority…lol. I found an article sympathizing with those who do not share my love of peeps detailing things to do with them.

From: Symplistically Living:

Got Peeps? First off, I’m sorry and secondly, if you don’t enjoy Peeps there are several things to do with Peeps besides eat them and we’ve got the list to prove it.

Throw them in the trash