apizza; pie

[Laurence Horn]

Well, now we're getting some conflicting information (the idea that
Middletown doesn't call its pizzas "apizza" because it was settled by
Sicilians, unlike the Neapolitans, or rather the provinicial
Campanians, who settled New Haven and imported their "apizza"
spelling and pronunciation, vs. the claim below that Sicilians would
do it too.).  But the real question I'd have, following Doug Wilson,
is whether it really makes sense to HAVE a definite article in the
name of pizza shops, as in "Pepe's Apizza", "Sally's Apizza", "Olde
World Apizza", and so on.   What you get elsewhere is not "X's La
Pizza" but "X's Pizza", with no article at all.  Similarly in French
you'd get "Jeanne's Crepes", not "Jeanne's les Crepes".  So it's not
the FORM but the PRESENCE of the article that I (and Doug) find
puzzling.

larry


>Further thoughts from the It-American Historical Assoc. listserv:
>
>From: Suzanne Branciforte <s.branciforte at wind.it.net>
>
>
>Ciao a tutti!
>
>As for 'a-beetz':  most southern dialects (not just Neapolitan, but also
>
>Sicilian) drop the L in the article LA (or the U in UNA, like in Che
>
>bella cosa, 'na iurnata sole) and then truncate final vowels.  The
>
>heavier labial consonants make the P sound like B, a-beetz for la pizza,
>
>broshjut for prosciutto, and so on.
>
>
>I couldn't resist getting into this discussion; my piece "The Day Anna
>
>Stopped Making a-Beetz" is coming out in the volume *The Milk of
>
>Almonds* (New York: Feminist Press, 2002, Edvige Giunta and Louise De
>
>Salvo eds.).
>
>
>Saluti,
>
>Suzanne Branciforte
>
>
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>Steve Boatti