• 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.)
PIZZA
- Dr. Goodword
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PIZZA
• The Good Dr. Goodword
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- Grand Panjandrum
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Funny, my neighbor pizzaiolo's name was precisely that: Domenico Gaeta. An aptronym? He was from Naples, though.The word is first recorded in a Latin text from the southern Italian town of Gaeta in 997 AD.
And strangely enough, an Italian slang term for what a shame is che pizza!.
Brazilian dude
Languages rule!
"Pizza"--considerably easier to use in conversation than "elastic loaves"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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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?"Pizza"--considerably easier to use in conversation than "elastic loaves"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words
(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
"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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- Lexiterian
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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.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?"Pizza"--considerably easier to use in conversation than "elastic loaves"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_ ... eign_words
(Stargzer needs a pizza, but is too lazy and too short of cash to go out and get one at the moment.)
-- PW
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!!! What a ride!"
Oh boy, and I took it seriouslyToo bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . .
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.
Ooph! And even if it isn't the exact word; it still works fairly well.Oh boy, and I took it seriouslyToo bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . .
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
"Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. Lately it hasn't been working."
Anonymous
Anonymous
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- Great Grand Panjandrum
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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.Oh boy, and I took it seriouslyToo bad the Good Doctor couldn't trace pizza back to PIE . . .
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
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
"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
Dinner Guest
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.
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)
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