Chips or Crisps?

So the natural issue to address just after addressing the fries v. chips issue is the chips v. crisps issue. Thin crispy fried slices of potato (or tortillas or whatever) are known as chips in the US and as crisps in the UK.

As we examined in the fries and chips post, the dictionary definition of chip fits the American usage of potato chip. It is a small flake of potato. So there's no real problem there. But there is also nothing wrong with the term crisp. They are crispy, so there is no inaccuracy there either.

If I were going to mandate which term should be used, I would mandate crisps, because it eliminates the ambiguity of American chips versus British chips (fries). But since we have already determined that there is no linguistic reason for the British to call their fries "chips", we'll call this one a tie. Either term is an accurate way to describe a crispy crunchy fried piece of potato.