As an Australian I can comment on this, theres this wonderful thing called "Context"
At McDonalds they refer to them as fries, but if you ask for a large chips, they know what you mean. If you go into a petrol station and ask where the crisps are, nobodies head explodes. If you go into a place that has ALL 3 (french fries, chips and crisps) and say "Can I get some chips" the person will ask for clarificaton.
British roots and American television has made OUR english quite flexible.
as an Australian let me explain, fast to get, unhealthy potato = chips.
It's context sensitive. We know what we mean.
Couldn't be simpler.
it holds, but we might refer to "fries" as hot chips if there's possibility of confusion
This isn't poking fun at us, this is just facts :)
You see, Chips are deep fried slices of potato, but Chips are ..
Let's confuse them even more:
Hot chips and potato chips.
Just came back from Australia. Chips (or crisps) don't seem to exist anywhere but grocery/convenience stores. So I never really heard them referred to as anything.
Restaurants exclusively serve fries as far as I could tell. Even with sandwiches. And they call them "chips" whether they are skinny or fat.
Errr... I'm from the UK and they're fries. These are chips
If it's think it's fries, if it's thick it's a chip.
My friend from Adelaide always says crisps.
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