Churchill and fried chicken

[snopes]

Comment: Could you please confirm or deny the following story:

On a visit to the United States, Sir Winston Churchill was invited to dine
at the home of a Southern notable. Fried chicken was, of course, on the
menu and Mr. Churchill asked ifsomeonw would pass him a bre4ast. "Oh, Mr.
Churchill," the hostess said, "we prefer to call it white meat here."
Ever gracious, Sir Winston rephrased and requested that he be passed a
piece of white meat.

Upon returning to Downing Street, Mr, Churchill wired flowers, a corsage,
to his hostess with the attached note, "Madam, I would be honoured if you
would pin this to your white meat in rememberance of me."

[samclem]

You can find this in usenet(Google Groups) from early 1991. I haven't found it before then.

[Steve Eisenberg]

My instant reaction was that the only way this quote could be true is if Churchill and the hostess were, all along, joking about prudish Americans not present.

I found this joke, worded differently, here.

In snopes' version, the gift is a corsage. In the link immediately above, it is an orchid, here a brooch.

According to this authoritative-looking web site, it is almost certainly a misquotation:

Another unlikely remark, which has been around for years, is alleged to have been made following a reception in Virginia; on being offered chicken, he asked for a breast, whereupon his hostess informed him that Southern ladies preferred the term “white meat.” The following day he allegedly sent her a corsage with the message, “I would be obliged if you would put this on your white meat.” The remark sounds entirely out of character for Churchill, who almost always treated ladies with Victorian courtesy.