BigBadBob's Blog

I’m currently grinding away as the cashier at a corporate cafeteria, and as such I sell people their breakfast and lunch. In the morning we serve these golden beauties:

They’re tater tots. I’ve always called them that, and I will always continue calling them that. Whether they were at the school cafeteria, a restaurant or made a rare appearance at home, these crunchy bits of potato are tater tots to me, and nothing else. Thing is, the people I work with don’t seem to agree with me. I’ve heard them called several different things, and none of them match what I think of.

For example, when someone tells me they got hash browns I think of this:

Sometimes they call them breakfast potatoes, which makes me think of this:

If someone says home fries, all I can think about are:

Or they’ll just say “fries“:

Occasionally someone will tell me they snagged some sweet potatoes:

If someone tells me they got an order of chips, I expect to see this in their container:

A couple of people also call them dumplings, but what we serve look nothing like this:

The best is the one lone customer who calls them “hash brownies“:

Some of it may be a regional thing, with me growing up in New York and some of the customers born and raised Southerners. It could also be an international thing, as some of the more far out responses come from customers are from other countries. Any way you hash it, I love me some good ol’ tater tots.

What do you call those wonderful friend potato nuggets? Leave a comment and let your voice be heard!