# How do people who say 'gabba-gool' spell capicola? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 10, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858 "2014-12-10T17:01:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/41 "2014-12-13T01:51:23Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > And you can even see it with US English- depending on the area, “Mary” , “merry” and “marry” might all be pronounced the same or each may have a separate pronunciation. But they are always spelled differently, even by those who pronounce them the same. > > Now back to the C-G and P-B, thing. My Sicilian family says gabbgol, manigott, rigot and bizza- but to my ear, the sound in manigott etc, is really not the same as an American English G. It’s sort of between a C and a G. Wasn’t Southern Italy ruled by the Spanish for a long time? I wonder if those sound shifts happened under Spanish influence. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/42 "2014-12-13T02:31:31Z")
So what’s up with “a-peets,” specifically the first vowel? Some foreign speakers of English on some initial consonants (I know from Frenchmen speaking English, but I can’t remember where) can’t get their ears/mind/mouth around it, and throw in a vowel. But Italian of course is full of initial p’s, besides pizza. A friend suggested it could be from “una pizza” said shortened. From the front end for good measure. 🙂 She also said epizza or apeetz, or something–directly on point for OP–is used and spelled that way in print in New Haven pizza shops. Wha? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/43 "2014-12-13T02:44:21Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > On the Sopranos, they were definitely using a g. It’s not just an Americanized thing, it’s about regional dialects versus “standard” Italian. My father speaks pretty standard Italian, but my mother’s family had some influences from Tuscan and northeast dialects in their speech. I was told that standard Italian is based on the Florence/Tuscan dialect. Over time I’ve come to believe that pronunciations like “Maron” (Madonna), “madinad” (marinara), “gabbagool” (capicolla), pasta fazool (pasta e fagioli), “moozadell” (mozzarella), and even Guy Fieri’s “Guy Fee-Eddy” are less regional Italian pronunciations than they are Italian-American pronunciations. Anyway, here’s the Bensonhurst spelling bee: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/qcp8rN-YqLw/maxresdefault.jpg "The Bensonhurst Spelling Bee with Kelly Ripa") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcp8rN-YqLw) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/44 "2014-12-13T03:10:49Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > … > > She also said epizza or apeetz, or something–directly on point for OP–is used and spelled that way in print in New Haven pizza shops. Wha? Hey **Leo** , let me google that for you. New Haven Dialect: The Linguistic Impact of Southern Italians in Connecticut. It’s undoubtedly in there, a long PDF. I saw he analyzes in detail “manicotti” and “mozzarella” as some of his test cases. Haven’t had time to look through it. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/45 "2014-12-13T03:21:33Z")
[Bensonhurst Spelling Bee](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b7e6f00184/the-bensonhurst-spelling-bee-with-kelly-ripa) is amazing. It has examples of spelling/sounds not mentioned here, and differs with some of the above posts. Aside from being great. (BTW, Paulie Walnuts is actually from Bensonhurst, as is Spumoni Gardens.) ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/46 "2014-12-13T03:50:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I was told that standard Italian is based on the Florence/Tuscan dialect True, modern standard Italian is based on the Tuscan dialect, but the process of standardization began a long time ago and residents of Florence and Tuscany have their own quirks. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/47 "2014-12-13T03:54:18Z")
Standard Italian, proverbially, is _lingua Romana in bocca Toscana_. I can’t remember by whom or when that was coined; 1600-1700? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2014, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858/48 "2014-12-13T04:06:21Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Standard Italian, proverbially, is _lingua Romana in bocca Toscana_. I can’t remember by whom or when that was coined; 1600-1700? Doing a quick Google search, the phrase seems to be _lingua Toscana in bocca Romana_—the Tuscan language as pronounced by a Roman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-people-who-say-gabba-gool-spell-capicola/706858.md?page=2)