'metropolis' is from the Greek 'polis', meaning 'city'. Now, it's been a while since I studied the Ancient Greek language, so I don't recall what the plural form would be off the top of my head, so I had a poke around on the Internet.

It appears that, strictly, the plural form of 'polis' is 'poleis'. The iota-sigma ending is replaced with an eta-sigma ending in the plural.

polis:

poleis:

(the other graphic)

Old Bay seasoning and vinegar is where it's at.

A concoction of ketchup and ranch dressing does the trick.

I use to use tabasco and ranch mixed for the fries. That was while I was in school. I don't know if I got lazy or what, but I don't put anything except salt and pepper on my fries now (except for vinegar if I'm having fish 'n' chips).

I typically put mustard on my fries (the unsweetened stone-ground kind or "deli" brown mustard, versus generic yellow mustard, Grey Poupon, or other weird variants).

For a while, I got into malt vinegar, then I discovered that balsamic vinegar is even better. I've also had good results with Wostershire sauce (really, just vinegar plus some seasoning) and various hot sauces (again, just vinegar plus hot pepper bits). There's also a fun sauce called 'balsamic hot sauce' that combines all my favorites all in one place. Yummy on fries.

Probably the most unusual fry topping I've ever enjoyed has been tahini (sesame seed paste). There was this burger joint in Berkeley that was also a middle eastern restaurant, so they had squeeze bottles with ketchup, mustard, and tahini. It's really quite good.

I spent a week in Belgium at one point, so I tried several of the mayonaise variants, but they just don't cut it for me. I had poutine once, in Montreal, and that was unquestionably good, but it's also a heart attack on a plate. It's really heavy in your stomach after you eat it...

Tabasco!

The one and only for my fries as well!!!

You're conflating two different pluralizations (and doing it incorrectly at that)

Yeah, I know. I originally wrote metropolises, which just looked, and sounded wrong. I was too lazy to look up the proper pluralization, and it was less work to backspace over three letters and add the -i suffix than it was to backspace over the whole word, and replace it with "cities". Of course, I get Bitted and end up typing far more in the long run, but I was gambling on you recognizing that my -i was offered in the same manner as pluralizing "moose" to "meese".

It appears that, strictly, the plural form of 'polis' is 'poleis'. The iota-sigma ending is replaced with an eta-sigma ending in the plural.

polis:

poleis:

Methinks you mean the plural is ``poles'', not ``poleis''.

So it's pluralized like ``crises'', not like ``irides'', as I (admittedly) guessed.

Nothing. Plain. No sauce, no vinear, no cheese, no dip. Not even salt. Nothing. Lovely.

Nothing. Plain. No sauce, no vinear, no cheese, no dip. Not even salt. Nothing. Lovely.

Yeah, but then it has to be a really GOOD chip. A nice, big, meaty (if such a word can apply) chip, for my preference. And those, unfortunately, are few and far between.

Richard.

Real chips with salt and vinegar (when they have it or I'm cooking)
Fries usually with just salt. Generally because they don't have vinegar in such establishments.

Occasionally I'll get adventurous and have a little ketchup. Or brown sauce. Or gravy. Or curry sauce. Or salad cream. Or (English) mustard. Or McD's sweet'n'sour.

When in Belgium or Holland, mayonaise. (Can't stand the stuff otherwise).

Love baked beans. And chips. Separately as much as possible. There's time for them to mix in my stomach.

Can't stand those pre-seasoned fries that have seemed to be very fashionable in Boston fast food joints in the past year. Won't visit Burger King because of that, even though their Bacon Double Cheeseburger remains high on the list of my favorite junk foods.


But generally, Salt and Vinegar whenever possible.

Yeah. Baked beans and chips should be kept separate. If I want to mix them then I'll do it individually with each chip. Otherwise all the chips go all soggy.

McDonald's fries are quite good in my opinion when they've just been fried. Much better than the Burger King ones IMO. Best thing at McDonald's is the curry sauce

- Trevor

Don't the dutch have 'Frite Saus' ?

That's what I has on my Mcdonalds Fries when I was there, plus two McCroquets of course !!

Methinks you mean the plural is ``poles'', not ``poleis''.

Depends on how you want to transliterate the 'eta'. Personally, I'd go with -es, as you suggest, but the first few websites I checked used -eis.

Maybe that was for phonetic effect. Certainly English words that use that form for pluralization do not include an `i'.

> but then it has to be a really GOOD chip

The only way you'll get it is to cook them at home. Try the following recepie:

Use decent potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edward.
Peel and cut to different sizes. Matching chips are boing and have no texture.
Put them in cold water as you cut them, then place the bowl under a running tap for five minutes to get the starch out.
Boil until soft, then take them out of the water, put on a tray and leave to cool. Then put in the fridge for half an hour.
Fry the cold chips at 130degC until just before they take on a colour. If possible, don't use new oil.
Take them out and do the fridge thing again for half an hour.
Fry at 190degC until golden brown. Serve. Lovely.

That's far too much hassle though. I usually don't bother peeling the potatoes and just put them under the tap, fry at 150degC, then again at 190degC.