At least one source says that "french fries" for deep-fried potato batons was also introduced when American, Canadian, and British soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I. The Belgians had previously been catering to the British soldiers' love of chips and continued to serve them to the other troops when they took over the western end of the front. The Belgians served them, and since French was the language of the Belgian Army, the name "French" was associated with the food. However, other sources disagree. Since a Frenchman (Parmentier) first made the potato popular, it is not surprising that the first reference to fried potatoes appears to come from France: in 1775, investigators there found fried potatoes in a dish. Through the nineteenth century, fried potatoes became common enough that songs and engravings took the "Fried Potato Vendor" as a popular subject. But at first, these were cut in rounds. In 1865, Gogué, in France, wrote to cut them either round or "in long and squared pieces"; in 1870, Cauderlier, in Belgium, also offered both options. Given the lag between practice and print, one cannot say that the five years’ difference is significant; the most likely hypothesis is that the practice grew up spontaneously and spread across both countries. Some other sources refer to the old-English verb "to french", meaning "to cut lengthwise", as the origin of the name. At that time, the term "french fries" was growing in popularity – the term was already used in the United States as early as 1899 – although it is not clear whether this referred to batons (chips) or slices of potato e.g. in an item in "Good Housekeeping" which specifically references "Kitchen Economy in France": "The perfection of french fries is due chiefly to the fact that plenty of fat is used".