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Monday, January 31, 2005

Size is important

Today was one of my "I don't feel like cooking anything" days, so I went into the local chippy for some food on my way home.

(Chippy: n. Place that sells chips. Chip: n. Potato cut into chips and fried. Similar to what Americans call fries, but thicker, and nothing like what Americans call chips, except the potato-ness.)

Anyway, I asked for "small chips" and I was served a "regular" portion. It turned out I should have asked for a "cone sized" portion. They have cone, regular and large sizes, but no small size. Ask for a small size and you get a regular size. Excuse me while my head explodes.

The chips are pretty good though.

posted by Bill P. Godfrey at 8:20 PM

⬅️ The part man... part Troll that is... When we remembered Psion ➡️

4 Comments:

  • I remember when "I were a lad" [not that I've had a sex change or anything... it's just an expression] that they used to have "small portions" of chips that weren't regular. [Of course, I'd often get chips on a Friday from a mobile chipshop - basically like an icecream van - but they sold fish and chips... amazing!]

    I think it's probably down to similar research carried out on condom sizing [related links: German penises "too small for EU Condoms" http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_358876.html
    Is US Penis Coming Up Short in Size : http://www.skfriends.com/penis-comes-up-short-new.htm]

    With men [particularly teenagers... of my generation and earlier at least, I'm not sure about the current ones] feeling embarrassed about going into stores and buying condoms anyway... going into a store and asking for a packet of "small" condoms is extremely embarrassing - especially when you're trying to impress the lady behind the counter :-) ... so people would ask for larger condoms than needed - leading to breakage and condom failure... so they renamed them. "Regular" sounds so much better than "small" [they do the same in McDonalds and other food places that vend drinks - the regular is the small]

    So basically, regular is small. Large is average. Extra large is large.

    A cone though, that's just a specialist unit - it probably only has a few less chips in it that a regular portion. It is only the last 5-10 years that I've seen the "cone" slip into acceptance in Fish-and-chiperies. Previously, I'd seen it "at the sea-side" when I was a child - it was the standard "kids size"... walk on the beach.. cover with ketchup... eat easily ... portion. [Although the cones were smaller then...]

    So... the whole chip-size fault is down to young men during the 70's and 80's who refused to buy condoms that were the correct size for them.

    By Blogger M., At 11:58 AM, February 02, 2005

  • It's happening here too. One place has regular, Large and "Some catchy name for Really Really Large I won't mention here and give them free advertising". The problem I have with that beyond the fact that it's damn stupid is that regular is small. They keep telling us that Americans are getting bigger and bigger, and one of the main reasons is that more people opt for the "Really Really Large..." size option.

    So, if most of us are getting the "Really Really Large..." size, wouldn't that be the regular choice? So why isn't "Really Really Large..." called regular? We could then call small "irregular" and make ourselves feel better about getting the Ginormous (Gigantic/Enormous) serving.

    By Blogger Thia, At 6:05 AM, February 11, 2005


  • "KFC Responds To Stockpiling Trend With 576-Piece Bucket"     [image taken from http://www.cybersalt.org/cleanlaugh/images/04/cartruckbucket.htm caption taken from "The Onion" (specifically, from my "Ad Nausium" desk calendar, a couple of days ago)]I think the biggest problem with sizes of things having "creative names" is that we get to a point where no-one really knows what they're getting... [ And, like most people, I know why people go for the larger food sizes - often a prize difference of around 10-20p which... for a lot more food is a good deal...]

    By Blogger M., At 12:46 PM, February 14, 2005

  • um... prize = price... but I'm sure you realised that... typo junkies of the world Untie!

    By Blogger M., At 12:48 PM, February 14, 2005