Frango (pronounced fran-goh)
(1) A young
chicken (rare in English and in Portuguese, literally “chicken”).
(2) Various
chicken dishes (an un-adapted borrowing from the Portuguese).
(3) In
football (soccer) (1) a goal resulting from a goalkeeper’s error and (2) the
unfortunate goalkeeper.
(4) The trade name of a chocolate truffle, now sold in Macy's department stores.
In English,
“frango” is most used in the Portuguese sense of “chicken” (variously “a young
chicken”, “chicken meat”, “chicken disk” etc) and was from the earlier Portuguese frângão of unknown origin. In colloquial figurative use, a frango can be
“a young boy” and presumably that’s an allusion to the use referring to “a
young chicken”. In football (soccer),
it’s used (sometimes trans-nationally) of a goal resulting from an especially
egregious mistake by the goalkeeper (often described in English by the more
generalized “howler”. In Brazil, where
football teams are quasi-religious institutions, such a frango (also as frangueiro)
is personalized to describe the goalkeeper who made the error and on-field
blunders are not without lethal consequence in South America, the Colombian
centre-back Andrés Escobar (1967–1994) murdered in the days after the 1994 FIFA
World Cup, an event reported as a retribution for him having scored the own
goal which contributed to Colombia's elimination from the tournament. Frango is
a noun; the noun plural is frangos.
The Classical Latin verb frangō (to break, to shatter) (present infinitive frangere, perfect active frēgī, supine frāctum) which may have been from the primitive Indo-European bhreg- (to break) by not all etymologists agree because descendants have never been detected in Celtic or Germanic forks, thus the possibility it might be an organic Latin creation. The synonyms were īnfringō, irrumpō, rumpō & violō. As well as memorable art, architecture and learning, Ancient Rome was a world also of violence and conflict and there was much breaking of stuff, the us the figurative use of various forms of frangō to convey the idea of (1) to break, shatter (a promise, a treaty, someone's ideas (dreams, projects), someone's spirit), (2) to break up into pieces (a war from too many battles, a nation) and (3) to reduce, weaken (one's desires, a nation).
A frangō in the sense of the Classical Latin: Lindsay Lohan with broken left wrist (fractured in two places in an unfortunate fall at Milk Studios during New York Fashion Week) and 355 ml (12 fluid oz) can of Rehab energy drink, Los Angeles, September 2006. The car is a 2006 Mercedes-Benz SL 65 AMG (R230; 2004-2011) which would later feature in the tabloids after a low-speed crash. The R230 range (2001-2011) was unusual because of the quirk of the SL 550 (2006-2011), a designation used exclusively in the North American market, the RoW (rest of the world) cars retaining the SL 500 badge even though both used the 5.5 litre (333 cubic inch) V8 (M273).
The
descendents from the Classical Latin frangō
(to break, to shatter) included the Aromanian frãngu (to break, to destroy; to defeat), the Asturian frañer (to break; to smash) & francer (to smash), the English fract (to break; to violate (long
obsolete)) & fracture ((1) an instance of breaking, a place where something
has broken. (2) in medicine a break in a bone or cartilage and (3) in geology a
fault or crack in a rock), the Friulian franzi
(to break), the German Fraktur
((1) in medicine, a break in a bone & (2) a typeface) & Fraktion (2) in politics, a faction, a
parliamentary grouping, (3) in chemistry, a fraction (in the sense of a
component of a mixture), (4) a fraction (part of a whole) and (5) in the
German-speaking populations of Switzerland, South Tyrol & Liechtenstein, a
hamlet (adapted from the Italian frazione)), the Italian: frangere (1) to break (into pieces), (2) to press or crush
(olives), (3) in figurative use and as a literary device, to transgress (a
commandment, a convention of behavior etc), (4) in figurative use to weaken
(someone's resistance, etc.) and (5) to break (of the sea) (archaic)), the
Ladin franjer (to break into pieces),
the Old Franco provençal fraindre (to
break; significantly to damage), the Old & Middle French fraindre (significantly to damage), the
Portuguese franzir (to frown (to form
wrinkles in forehead)), the Romanian frânge
(1) to break, smash, fracture & (2) in figurative use, to defeat) and frângere (breaking), the Old Spanish to
break), and the Spanish frangir (to
split; to divide).
In
Portuguese restaurants, often heard is the phrase de vaca ou de frango? (beef or chicken?) and that’s because so many
dishes offer the choice, much the same as in most of the world (though
obviously not India). In fast-food
outlets, the standard verbal shorthand for “fried chicken” is “FF” which turns
out to be one of the world’s most common two letter abbreviations, the reason
being one “F” representing of English’s most unadapted linguistic exports. One mystery for foreigners sampling
Portuguese cuisine is: Why is chicken “frango”
but chicken soup is “sopa de galinha?” That’s because frango is used to mean “a young male chicken” while a galinha is an adult female. Because galinha
meat doesn’t possess the same tender quality as that of a frango, (the females bred and retained mostly for egg production),
slaughtered galinhas traditionally were
minced or shredded and used for dishes such as soups, thus: sopa de galinha (also as canja de galinha or the clipped caldo and in modern use, although rare, sopa de frango is not unknown). That has changed as modern techniques of
industrial farming have resulted in a vastly expanded supply of frango meat so, by volume, most sopa de galinha is now made using frangos (the birds killed young,
typically between 3-4 months). Frangos have white, drier, softer meat while
that of the galinha is darker, less
tender and juicer and the difference does attract chefs in who do sometimes
offer a true sopa de galinha as a kind
of “authentic peasant cuisine”.
There are
also pintos (pintinhos in the diminutive) which are chicks only a few days old
but these are no longer a part of mainstream Portuguese cuisine although galetos (chicks killed between at 3-4
weeks) are something of a delicacy, usually roasted. The reproductive males (cocks or roosters in
English use) are galos. There is no tradition, anywhere in
Europe, of eating the boiled, late-developing fertilized eggs (ie a bird in the
early stages of development), a popular dish in the Philippines and one which
seems to attract virulent disapprobation from many which culturally is
interesting because often, the same critics happily will consume both the eggs
and the birds yet express revulsion at even the sight of the intermediate
stage. Such attitudes are cultural
constructs and may be anthropomorphic because there’s some resemblance to a
human foetus.
Now sold in
Macy’s Frangos are a chocolate truffle created in 1918 for sale in Frederick
& Nelson department stores. Although
originally infused with mint, many variations ensued and they became popular
when made available in the Marshall Field department stores which in 1929
acquired Frederick & Nelson although it’s probably their distribution by Macy's
which remains best known. Marshall
Field's marketing sense was sound and they turned the Frango into something of
a cult, producing them in large melting pots on the 13th floor of the flagship
Marshall Field's store on State Street until 1999 when production was
out-sourced to a third party manufacturer in Pennsylvania. In the way of modern corporate life, the
Frango has had many owners, a few changes in production method and packaging and
some appearances in court cases over rights to the thing but it remains a
fixture on Macy’s price lists, the trouble history reflected in the “Pacific
Northwest version” being sold in Macy's Northwest locations in Washington,
Idaho, Montana and Oregon while the “Seattle version” is available in Macy's
Northwest establishments. There are
differences between the two and each has its champions but doubtless there are
those who relish both.
A patent
application (with a supporting trademark document) for the Frango was filed in 1918,
the name a re-purposing of a frozen dessert sold in the up-market tea-room at Frederick
& Nelson's department store in Seattle, Washington. The surviving records suggest the “Seattle Frangos”
were flavoured not with mint but with maple and orange but what remains
uncertain is the origin of the name. One
theory is the construct was Fr(ederick’s)
+ (t)ango which is romantic but
there are also reports employees were told, if asked, to respond it was from Fr(ederick) –an(d) Nelson Co(mpany)
with the “c” switched to a “g” because the word “Franco” had a long
established meaning. Franco was a word-forming
element meaning “French” or “the Franks”, from the Medieval Latin combining
form Franci (the Franks), thus, by
extension, “the French”. Since the early
eighteenth century it had been used when forming English phrases & compound
words including “Franco-Spanish border” (national boundary between France &
Spain), Francophile (characterized by excessive fondness of France and all
things French (and thus its antonym Francophobe)) and Francophone (French
speaking).
Hitler and Franco, photographed at their day-long meeting at Hendaye, on the Franco-Spanish border, 23 October 1940. Within half a decade, Hitler would kill himself; still ruling Spain, Franco died peacefully in his bed, 35 years later.
Remarkably,
the Frango truffles have been a part of two political controversies. The first was a bit of a conspiracy theory,
claiming the sweet treats were originally called “Franco Mints”, the name changed
only after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in which the
(notionally right-wing and ultimately victorious) Nationalist forces were led
by Generalissimo Francisco Franco (1892-1975; Caudillo of Spain 1939-1975) and
the explanation was that Marshall Field wanted to avoid adverse publicity. Some tellings of the tale claim the change was
made only after the Generalissimo’s meeting with Adolf Hitler (1889-1945;
Führer (leader) and German head of government 1933-1945 & head of state
1934-1945) at Hendaye (on the Franco-Spanish border) on 23 October 1940. Their discussions concerned Spain's
participation in the War against the British but it proved most unsatisfactory
for the Germans, the Führer declaring as he left that he'd rather have "three of four
teeth pulled out" than have to again spend a day meet with the
Caudillo. Unlike Hitler, Franco was a
professional soldier, thought war a hateful business best avoided and, more
significantly, had a shrewd understanding of the military potential of the
British Empire and the implications for the war of the wealth and industrial
might of the United States. The British
were fortunate Franco took the view he did because had he agreed to afford the
Wehrmacht (the German armed forces) the requested cooperation to enable them to
seize control of Gibraltar, the Royal Navy might have lost control of the
Mediterranean, endangering the vital supplies of oil from the Middle East,
complicating passage to the Indian Ocean and beyond and transforming the
strategic position in the whole hemisphere.
However, in the archives is the patent application form for “Frangos”
dated 1 June 1918 and there has never been any evidence to support the notion “Franco”
was ever used for the chocolate truffles.
The other political stoush (a late nineteenth century Antipodean slang meaning a "fight or small-scale brawl) came in 1999 when, after seventy years, production of Frangos was shifted from the famous melting pots on the thirteenth floor of Marshall Field's flagship State Street store to Gertrude Hawk Chocolates in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, the decision taken by the accountants at the Dayton-Hudson Corporation which had assumed control in 1990. The rationale of this was logical, demand for Frangos having grown far beyond the capacity of the relatively small space in State Street to meet demand but it upset many locals, the populist response led Richard Daley (b 1942; mayor (Democratic Party) of Chicago Illinois 1989-2011), the son of his namesake father (1902–1976; mayor (Democratic Party) of Chicago, Illinois 1955-1976) who in 1968 simultaneously achieved national infamy and national celebrity (one’s politics dictating how one felt) in his handling of the police response to the violence which beset the 1968 Democratic National Convention held that year in the city. The campaign to have the Frangos made instead by a Chicago-based chocolate house was briefly a thing but was ignored by Dayton-Hudson and predictably, whatever the lingering nostalgia for the melting pots, the pragmatic Mid-Westerners adjusted to the new reality and with much the same with the same enthusiasm were soon buying the imports from Pennsylvania.
Remarkably, there appears to be a “Frango spot market”. Although the increasing capacity of AI (artificial intelligence) has made the mechanics of “dynamic pricing” (a price responding in real-time to movements in demand), as long ago as the Christmas season in 2014, CBS News ran what they called the “Macy's State Street Store Frango Mint Price Tracker”, finding the truffle’s price was subject to fluctuations as varied over the holiday period as movements in the cost of gas (petrol). On the evening of Thanksgiving, “early bird” shoppers could buy a 1 lb one-pound box of Frango mint “Meltaways” for US$11.99, the price jumping by the second week in December to US$14.99 although that still represented quite a nominal discount from the RRP (recommended retail price) of US$24.00. Within days, the same box was again listed at US$11.99 and a survey of advertising from the previous season confirmed that in the weeks immediately after Christmas, the price had fallen to US$9.99. It may be time for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to open a market for Frango Futures (the latest “FF”!).
