# When did "pizza" become "za"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 27, 2014, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624 "2014-08-27T12:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/1 "2014-08-27T12:33:10Z")
It seems like just a few weeks ago I first heard someone refer to pizza as “za”. Now it seems I’m running into za everywhere. Is it a new phenomenon? Was there a point source that started it? Onions, 'shrooms, and anchovies on mine.😃 ---
**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:** [August 27, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/2 "2014-08-27T12:38:35Z")
I’ve heard since the late '80s. It was noted as part of college slang I think by William Safire. Also “rents” for “parents.” ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/3 "2014-08-27T12:39:37Z")
I’ve never heard it. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/4 "2014-08-27T12:42:11Z")
I’ve not heard this. if someone asked me if I wanted a slice of za, I wouldn’t know what the heck they were talking about. Well, I guess I would know now, but not a few minutes ago. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/5 "2014-08-27T12:51:16Z")
New to me, and I’m usually remarkably hep to the jive. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/6 "2014-08-27T12:54:59Z")
Za and rents came my way in reading _The Mushroom Kid_, the autobio of the physics student who designed an atomic bomb and ran into all kinds of trouble… and was also a campus pizza delivery guy. Maybe 1980, 1981? ETA: 1978, it’s _Mushroom: The Story of the A-Bomb Kid_, and his name was John Aristotle Phillips. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/7 "2014-08-27T13:30:21Z")
We used za and rents in college in the 80’s as well. There’s even a nice pizza place near me called [Za](http://zarestaurant.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/8 "2014-08-27T13:37:58Z")
Graduated high school in '83 - deep in the rural Maine woods. We had za with the rents all the time back then. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/9 "2014-08-27T13:42:46Z")
Early 1980’s, the college persons from California. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/10 "2014-08-27T13:47:04Z")
I could be off by a few years, but I think I saw _za_ as a stand-in for _pizza_ about the time I saw names like Topher (for Christopher) popping up. Since [Topher Grace](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0333410/?ref_=nv_sr_1)’s first credit as an actor is 2000 (maybe 1998-2006 for his sitcom) that’s all I have to hang it on. How many such names are there now? Ley for Dudley Liam for William (must go back to the Middle Ages, right?) Neth for Kenneth Beth for Elizabeth (Shakespeare’s day?) ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/11 "2014-08-27T13:51:38Z")
The local pizza place in my college town was nicknamed Za’s. I don’t remember its actual name. We never called the food itself “za”, though. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/12 "2014-08-27T13:54:45Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > How many such names are there now? > > Ley for Dudley > Liam for William (must go back to the Middle Ages, right?) > Neth for Kenneth > Beth for Elizabeth (Shakespeare’s day?) [Taye for Scott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taye_Diggs). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/13 "2014-08-27T14:05:46Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > [Taye for Scott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taye_Diggs). Got to be real hard to top! What if Dick Clark had decided Chard would be better than Dick? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/14 "2014-08-27T14:06:30Z")
I grew up in the 90s and earnestly calling pizza 'za would make you seem like an embarrassingly out of touch person trying to be hip to the young generation. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/15 "2014-08-27T14:09:30Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > The local pizza place in my college town was nicknamed Za’s. I don’t remember its actual name. We never called the food itself “za”, though. Champaign? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/16 "2014-08-27T14:14:08Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I grew up in the 90s and earnestly calling pizza 'za would make you seem like an embarrassingly out of touch person trying to be hip to the young generation. Right about then, it would have been last-week’s-jargon and thus painful to hear used. Now it’s one with twenty-three-skiddoo, bee’s knees and mod. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/17 "2014-08-27T14:21:26Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Right about then, it would have been last-week’s-jargon and thus painful to hear used. Now it’s one with twenty-three-skiddoo, bee’s knees and mod. Before you click on [“Oh, you Kid”, “Hubba Hubba”, and “23-Skidoo”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=72771) – please hazard a guess as to when that thread dates from! 06-01-2001, 12:54 PM Spectre of Pithecanthropus ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/18 "2014-08-27T14:24:18Z")
Ummm… I think we used za back in college in the late 60s. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/19 "2014-08-27T14:26:42Z")
I can remember reading articles in the 80s that _claimed_ za was a hot new slang term for pizza, but in nearly 30 years since then I have never once heard it in the wild. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624/20 "2014-08-27T14:31:20Z")
There were a few people at the college in the NE US I taught at in the late 70s who insisted that the proper local term was “za”. We considered them affected bozos. I did a crossword the other day that used it in a clue. Possibly the first time I encountered the term since that era. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-pizza-become-za/696624.md?page=2)