From Iron Curtain to Golden Arches (Fifteen years of Russian happy meals)

The Weekly Standard ^ | February 28, 2004 | Arnold Beichman

[defenderoftheflag]

Interesting the Russian would use the german word for potato in their word for french fry.

[billorites]

I love the McDonald's restaurants in France.

Not only can you get a decent espresso, but a big bottle of Heiniken as well.

Beer and wine at McDonald's is probably the best evidence of France's cultural superiority.

Oh, and they have proper, clean bathrooms too. Not the squat thingies you see in much of Europe.

[Tax Government]

I am certain that learning Russian is far easier if you already know French and/or German. There are many examples of words in Russian and English that share a common origin; I suspect that not all of them were passed along through French and German. Example: "bleach" in English is clearly related to "whitener" in Slavic language(s), e.g., Russian.

[GSlob]

"Interesting the Russian would use the German word for potato"
That's how potatoes were introduced into Russia at the end of 18th century. The peasants at first tried to collect the berries (which are poisonous) instead of tubers, and there were riots about "government officials trying to poison the people" - potato riots. After some sense had been beaten into them by military detachments sent to restore order, potatoes became a staple. There are many other German loanwords there, with similar provenance of foreign introduction, for example locksmith = schlusser(sp?) ='slesar', including a lot of technical terminology. Even medieval suit of plate armor "pantsyr'" closely resembles German 'Panzer', doesn't it?

[Clemenza]

That's also because many of the potato farmers in Russia were German as well.

[PAR35]

Unlike the French, the Russians have proven willing to borrow words. Pronounce the letters and a grocery store sounds like "Supermarket"; a phamacy shop tracks the German "Apotika".

And that's about the extent of my Russian.

[Ciexyz]

If you try to read the Russian classics, it helps to have at least two years of French and German, because the novels include many phrases in those foreign languages, including quotations from French and German literature and philosophers. This is because the educated classes in the 1800's, in the years in which Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and Gogol were writing their masterpieces, were conversant in French and German.

[jb6]

Third, it's American, so the hamburgers can be trusted

The meat is from Romania/Hungary, that's the location for the processing plant and main distribution center for eastern Europe.

Six: It's a (well was) prestige item that only the rich could afford and showed it off.

Actually you can't compare a well made kakleta with onions and garlic and other spices to that lifeless slab of reprocessed meat flavored cardboard.

McDonalds was quick to get there as something "new" and from the West before the Iron Curtain came down. That is their number one core competancy.

[jb6]

That's because the first tubers brought over to Europe were very small. It was European farmers that gave the world large potatoes, several of which were poisonous varieties and proved lethal to their growers.

In the US for a long time, tomatoes were seen as a poisonous weed.

[jb6]

Panzer does not mean mediveal plate, it means armor in general, why german tanks are called panzers. Armor in Russian is bronyo.

[jb6]

I know you say all this to prove that Russians are barbaric apes who are to stupid to think. I know your usual posts and you either flat out say it and get flamed or try to hide it by innuendo. But don't forget, what you consider a civilized language, English, is a hodge pudge of Keltic, Latin, Germanic and French. Why feces is a "cultured" french world for shit, a "dirty uncultured" saxon german word.

[jb6]

That's because in the 17th & 18th centuary French was the language of the educated and polite society, like Greek was during the Roman Empire. Yes, I know, what the hell was the rest of Europe and for that matter, America, thinking?

[MarMema]

Excellent. Thank you!!! I loved eating at McDonalds in Moscow.

I remember laughing with my husband while reading the BEEG MAC on the menu in cyrillic.

[MarMema]

Oh, thanks!!! I wish I had known that before I began my quest.

[Billthedrill]

...when the waiter plopped down--literally--two plates with a gray-looking meat slab, Pipes inquired of the waiter, in Russian: "What meat is this?"

"Ya niznayu, I don't know," snapped the waiter with a shrug and walked off.

That'll cost 'em a star in the Michelin guide. But I've eaten in places like that. If you want to live to a ripe old age, never order the "special."

[Plutarch]

The potato is of significant historical importance, as it supported greatly increased population in the areas where it was cultivated, especially Northern Europe. Interesting article:

The Impact of the Potato

[Ciexyz]

The Potato famine in Ireland, of course, brought waves of Irish immigrants to America's shores, incl. some of my relatives.

[Ciexyz]

The Potato article was most interesting. I had no idea that a diet of potatoes and milk provides all essential nutrients, or that the Irish population doubled due to the introduction of the potato and the rich nutrients it provided to the peasantry.

[GSlob]

Non sequitur: one synonym is a loanword, and was used for illustration, another (yours) is not. As a civilized guy (learn from him!) named Confucius once said, the message and the messenger are two different things and are not connected, thus my opinions and motivation are beside the point. Potato riots of 18th century happen to be a bit of history.