pizza place

[Victor Steinbok]

I am watching local news and there seems to have been a shooting at a
"Same Old Place" pizza establishment. And, of course, all the locals,
including cops, refer to it as "pizza place"--clearly unrelated to the
actual name. To me, at least, this reference seems to be perfectly
normal and common. A quick look in the OED found "pizza bar", "pizza
palace", "pizza parlour", "pizza stand", and "pizza seller", but no
"pizza place" ("pizza house" and "pizza shop" also mentioned in Wiki
article on pizza are also absent, but that's not my concern here).

Well, not quite. There is a "pizza place" example under "place n.1 9.b.".

[9.]b. A building, establishment, or area devoted to a particular purpose.
Usually with qualification indicating the purpose, as place of
amusement, place of resort, bathing-place, etc. place of refreshment: a
place where ships could renew supplies (see REFRESHMENT n. 2). another
place: see ANOTHER adj. and pron. 3a. place of worship: see sense 17.
1988 L. SPALDING Daughters of Captain Cook ii. 23 There were pizza
places and a Korean restaurant.

But this example appears to be complete out of place! Compare it to the
other examples in the same subentry:

> c1420 in C. Innes Liber Calchou (1846) 449 His clenging plas. c1480
> (a1400) St. George 551 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial.
> (1896) II. 191 {Th}ar-for werkmen..nere it mad sa fast a place
> quhare-in al {th}at Iugit was sic ded to de, suld in put be. 1541 T.
> ELYOT Image of Gouernance xxiii. f. 47v, Their places of easement ouer
> the ryuer. 1560 J. DAUS tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xlvijv,
> Colledges and such other places were fyrst founded for the pore. 1580
> in J. C. Tingey Rec. City of Norwich (1910) II. 190 Noe person within
> this cytie..shall come abroade into any streets, market, shoppe, or
> open place of resorte. 1617 F. MORYSON Itinerary I. 3 The Exchange
> where the Merchants meet is a very pleasant place. 1646 SIR T. BROWNE
> Pseudodoxia Epidemica VI. vii. 309 The Balnearies or bathing places.
> 1653 I. WALTON Compl. Angler i. 2, I know the thatcht house very well:
> I often..taste a cup of Ale there, for which liquor that place is very
> remarkable. 1715 J. ADDISON Spectator No. 556. ¶7 The Coffee-houses
> have ever since been my chief Places of Resort. 1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 I.
> 5/1 It was supposed that it would have been an useful station and
> place of refreshment..for the French East India ships. 1789 E. BURKE
> Speech Comm. 6 Feb. in Speeches (1816) III. 394 The present minister,
> he understood, had been called ‘a heaven-born minister’ in another
> place. 1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800: Hist. India 20/1 A place of
> refreshment for the fleets on their passage from India to Europe. 1855
> ‘Q. K. P. DOESTICKS’ Doesticks, what he Says 315 Lorgnettes,
> Opera-hoods, and white kids are not exhibited here in such profusion
> as in some other places of amusement. 1875 B. JOWETT tr. Plato
> Dialogues (ed. 2) III. 376 A theatre, or a camp, or, some other place
> of resort. 1901 Daily Chron. 29 Oct. 4/6 The Chapter House..is to be,
> as the Bishop of Southwark said, ‘a place of speaking for the wants of
> the diocese’. 1953 J. WAIN Hurry on Down viii. 177 Finally the
> murders, and how disgracefully easy it was to escape from Broadmoor
> and these places.

This is not the same "place" at all! All of these are general references
to types of places with a single word "place" often listed as "places of
X" (such as the frequent in US "places of worship"). "Pizza place"
usually refers to a particular location, not the general, collective
/type/ of establishment. To be honest, I know exactly what the
difference is, but I am having a hard time describing it.

"Place" as a generalized substitute for "restaurant" or any food
establishment is quite common: Chinese place, chicken wing place, pizza
place, etc., all in parallel with a similar use of "joint". But that's
not to say that they are synonymous and fully interchangeable--I can
think of a "smoking joint" referring to a tobacco shop, but not "smoking
place", which is well formed but would mean something entirely
different. And "barbecue joint" sounds a lot better to me than "barbecue
place", although both are acceptable. But, in general, both "joint" and
"place" can refer not just to a food/eating establishment but to many
different types of shops (e.g., "the hat place", "toy place", "the
discount place/joint"). The preference for using "place" strictly for
food establishments may be based on individual habits, but I regularly
hear it in the Northeast (and I doubt very much it is regionalized).

Still, does it not deserve a dictionary entry?

VS-)

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