[Ads-l] Heard in an ad for a local pizzeria:

[Marc Sacks]

I grew up in Pittsburgh, where we always called pizza sections "cuts." I
only heard "slice" when I visited New York (I didn't get around much). Now
I live near Boston where "slice" is also the term of choice.

The only time I heard of a tray of pizza, it was a very large rectangular
sheet of Sicilian-style pizza containing maybe 24 cuts. I have never heard
of a round pizza being referred to as a tray.

Marc Sacks

On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 7:47 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Heard in an ad for a local pizzeria:
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> -------------------
>
> > On Feb 12, 2018, at 3:30 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >=20
> > "You [local pizza-heads] don't order a couple of slices! You order a =
> couple
> > of _cuts_!"
> >=20
> > I noticed that "cut" was used at my late wife's favorite pizza joint, =
> which
> > advertised "pizza by the cut" in its signage, but I didn't realize =
> that,
> > like _heyna_, it was felt to be peculiar to the local dialect. And, in
> > fact, Googling shows that, though "cut" isn't widespread, it's not a =
> local,
> > NEPA thing. It's more like positive anymore and "needs washed" than =
> like
> > "heyna," heyna?
> >=20
> > =E2=80=94=20
> Just checked with our two NEPA students at Monday coffee hour; one uses =
> it herself (glossing it as essentially =E2=80=9Cn=E2=80=99est-ce =
> pas=E2=80=9D), the other doesn=E2=80=99t but is quite familiar with it, =
> and (speaking of pizzerias) they mentioned a Pennsylvanianism unfamiliar =
> to me: =E2=80=9Ctray=E2=80=9D for a whole pizza.  One of them mentioned =
> ordering a tray at a pizzeria elsewhere and being puzzled when they =
> brought out an actual tray (with no pizza on it).  My VPN isn=E2=80=99t =
> working so I can=E2=80=99t check to see if this is a widely recognized =
> regionalism; it probably is, just not one I=E2=80=99ve heard. =20
>
> LH
>
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