PIZZA

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Dr. Goodword
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PIZZA

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:10 pm

• pizza •

Pronunciation: peet-sê • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A southern Italian dish consisting of a thin piece of bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese, usually enhanced with other bits such as olives, sausage, and mushrooms.

Notes: Today's Good Word is so warm from Italian that all its relatives are still purely Italian: a pizzaiolo is a pizza maker while a pizzeria is a pizza parlor. A small pizza with a very thin crust is a pizzetta. (Did you know that?)

In Play: Although pizzas have been available in Italian restaurants throughout North America since the turn of the century, they languished unnoticed until the 1950s. They were originally called "tomato pies" or "pizza pies" since, in the American experience, they most resembled a thin pie with tomatoes. Pizza is now one of the most popular foods around the world, one of the few that will be delivered to your house.

Word History: Pizza has a historical pedigree going back over a thousand years. The word is first recorded in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD. That text claims that a certain tenant must give the bishop of Gaeta duodecim pizze "twelve pizzas", every Christmas day and another twelve every Easter Sunday. Did you know that pizza was originally a German(ic) word? It originated in Langobard, a Germanic language spoken in southern Italy way back when. The Langobard word was probably bizzo or pizzo "a bite", which comes from the same Proto-Germanic words as English bite and bit. The same word in Gothic, a northern Germanic language of roughly the same time related to Langobard, would have been pitta and probably was borrowed in northern Italy as pita, a bread similar to that of the pizza. (Today's tasty bite of English vocabulary was delivered by Sally Capotosto, to whom we are all very grateful.)
• The Good Dr. Goodword

Brazilian dude
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Postby Brazilian dude » Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:29 pm

The word is first recorded in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD.
Funny, my neighbor pizzaiolo's name was precisely that: Domenico Gaeta. An aptronym? He was from Naples, though.

And strangely enough, an Italian slang term for what a shame is che pizza!.

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skinem
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Postby skinem » Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:41 am

"Pizza"--considerably easier to use in conversation than "elastic loaves"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words

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Postby Stargzer » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:30 am

Too bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . . :wink:
Regards//Larry

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Postby frank » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:15 pm

Too bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . . :wink:
bite < PIE *bheid-
bit < zero grade of *bheid-, i.e. PIE *bhid-
:-)

F

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Postby Perry » Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:38 pm

Too bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . . :wink:
Very tasty Gzr!
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Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Sun Aug 06, 2006 11:28 pm

"Pizza"--considerably easier to use in conversation than "elastic loaves"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words
Ya know, now that I think about it, it's the cheese that's elastic, not the bread; at least, after it's cooked, that is. A good pizza dough is elastic after it's been kneaded. Ever watch a guy toss it up in the air to stretch it?

(Stargzer needs a pizza, but is too lazy and too short of cash to go out and get one at the moment.)
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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Postby Palewriter » Mon Aug 07, 2006 12:20 am

"Pizza"--considerably easier to use in conversation than "elastic loaves"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words
Ya know, now that I think about it, it's the cheese that's elastic, not the bread; at least, after it's cooked, that is. A good pizza dough is elastic after it's been kneaded. Ever watch a guy toss it up in the air to stretch it?

(Stargzer needs a pizza, but is too lazy and too short of cash to go out and get one at the moment.)
You don't see a good pizza dough tosser like you used to, it seems. I recall an outstanding joint on 86th Street (Manhattan, of course) back in the mid-60s, where the pizzaiolo stood in the window casting his spinning dough at least six feet into the air. Great show; great pizza; 25 cents a slice. Yummy.

-- PW
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Postby frank » Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:44 am

Too bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . . :wink:
Oh boy, and I took it seriously :oops:
Is there a word for "feeling incredibly silly because of realising in a flash (after full three days) that it was meant as a joke"?

EDIT: I really missed Stargzer great pun 'pizza - pie' (PIE).

F
Last edited by frank on Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

Perry
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Postby Perry » Mon Aug 07, 2006 11:27 am

Too bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . . :wink:
Oh boy, and I took it seriously :oops:
Is there a word for "feeling incredibly silly because of realising in a flash (after full three days) that it was meant as a joke"?

F
Ooph! And even if it isn't the exact word; it still works fairly well.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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skinem
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Postby skinem » Mon Aug 07, 2006 12:41 pm


Is there a word for "feeling incredibly silly because of realising in a flash (after full three days) that it was meant as a joke"?

EDIT: I really missed Stargzer great pun 'pizza - pie' (PIE).

F
Doh! (ala Homer Simpson, not "Duh"...)

Stargzer
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Postby Stargzer » Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:21 pm

Too bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . . :wink:
Oh boy, and I took it seriously :oops:
Is there a word for "feeling incredibly silly because of realising in a flash (after full three days) that it was meant as a joke"?

EDIT: I really missed Stargzer great pun 'pizza - pie' (PIE).

F
Ah, my good friend, it was a play on words but a serious question to boot. Still, it would have been something if the Doc had tied Pizza to PIE, but he does well enough in the humor department as it is. Don't PUNish yourself. :wink:
Regards//Larry

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Attributed to Richard Henry Lee

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Postby Sunny » Sun Aug 13, 2006 9:31 am

Had I known you were serving food I would have been back ages ago! My humblest apologies for my absence, I have missed you all, people and words.

I have always felt that Pizza should be classed as a food group all on its own. Having said that, I am not sure where I would slot it in though. There are so many possibilities.

Weekly ritual food group
Comfort food
After the breakup pig out
Group sharing food
Can't think of anything else for supper
Perfection (when you get a good one)

You see what I mean, the possibilities to put Pizza as its own food group is daunting. It applies to all of the above and more.

I have missed you all, my absence is inexcusable, but I have always been here in spirit.
One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love. Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC)

Perry
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Postby Perry » Sun Aug 13, 2006 10:43 am

Pizza is all of the above. And that is precisely what makes it comprise its own food group.
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
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Bailey
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Postby Bailey » Sun Aug 13, 2006 11:45 am

Pizza is all of the above. And that is precisely what makes it comprise its own food group.
Including the all-important fat group.

mark digging-a-grave-with-a-fork Bailey

of course I don't eat pizza with a fork.

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