# Why is it pizzeria and not pizzaria? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207 "2016-09-29T15:09:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/21 "2016-09-29T20:12:12Z")
I’m hoping it sells for a lot. The shop itself and the resulting pizza will be part of a performance art piece I’m planning, at the end of which the product will be auctioned off. (And of course I’ll bring it directly to your home.) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/22 "2016-09-29T20:14:52Z")
If the pizza place is really unsanitary or of some other awful quality does it become pizzarhhea? chachacha ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/23 "2016-09-30T00:21:44Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Sure, but what if I’m opening a _very_ special shop that will only ever sell one pizza? Can I call it a pizzaria then? No. See post #14. (Of course, you can call your own shop any damn thing you like, and in fact there are already numerous restaurants that spell the word “pizzaria” in their name: [some](https://www.mrdelivery.com/order/restaurant/cafe-pizzaria--menu/79/47407) [random](http://www.visitcolumbiamo.com/directory/gd-pizzaria/) [examples](http://www.cottonwoodchamberaz.org/list/member/acme-pizzaria-cottonwood-1381). But the conventional spelling of “pizzeria”, as I explained above, has nothing to do with whether the pizza in question is singular or plural. Please do not perpetuate this misleading folk etymology in any serious context! :)) > [@TBG](#): > > If the pizza place is really unsanitary or of some other awful quality does it become pizzarhhea? chachacha As long as I’m already wearing my Humorless Orthography Nazi hat, I’ll point out that what you probably meant to type was “pizzarrhea”, in imitation of the spelling of “diarrhea”. Hmmph. ---
**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:** [September 30, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/24 "2016-09-30T00:42:14Z")
OK, how about: “Pizzecatte:” (Plural) Multiple instances of pizzicati, as in an orchestral score or performance. See? 2 Male noun, “i,” 2 plural male, “e.” Who knows from past participle? (I think that was Yinglish right there.) I’ve been had. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/25 "2016-09-30T00:56:04Z")
Now you people are just trying to make me mad. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/26 "2016-09-30T00:58:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > As long as I’m already wearing my Humorless Orthography Nazi hat, I’ll point out that what you probably meant to type was “pizzarrhea”, in imitation of the spelling of “diarrhea”. > > Hmmph. Yeah, something happened between my writing diarrhea and altering it to add the pizza, and the damn spell checker was, of course, not a bit of help… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pabstist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e99b99/32.png) [@pabstist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pabstist)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/27 "2016-09-30T01:14:21Z")
Some places do spell it pizzaria! The owners are Mexican, so maybe that’s the Spanish way to spell it? ![A photo at 371 Restaurant](https://s3-media0.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/yowWXg0B8mxMbXkloJcWHg/o.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/28 "2016-09-30T01:19:22Z")
> [@pabstist](#): > > Some places do spell it pizzaria! The owners are Mexican, so maybe that’s the Spanish way to spell it? See post #23. Yes, AFAICT it’s not unusual for Spanish and Portuguese restaurant names to favor the spelling “pizzaria”. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/29 "2016-09-30T01:23:36Z")
> [@pabstist](#): > > Some places do spell it pizzaria! The owners are Mexican, so maybe that’s the Spanish way to spell it? I know that this is now the intentionally-or-unintentionally-annoy- **Kimstu** thread, but he did already point out examples a few posts earlier. ETA: ninja by Kimstu. But in Spanish, isn’t the suffix still -ería? I’m not clear why Spanish/Portugese speakers might be more prone to use the pizzaria spelling? Is it related to pronunciation? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/30 "2016-09-30T01:54:27Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > But in Spanish, isn’t the suffix still -ería? I’m not clear why Spanish/Portugese speakers might be more prone to use the pizzaria spelling? Is it related to pronunciation? [Here’s a place in Italy](http://www.pizzarialanotizia.com/) that goes back and forth between pizzaria and pizzeria interchangeably all throughout their website. Not sure if that is indicative of anything but it isn’t only Spanish/Portuguese speakers. (Unless these are Spanish speakers living in Italy which I suppose is possible.) I thought of the Spanish fruteria and ferreteria (fruit store and hardware store) as good examples, but a quick web search also finds that they are also sometimes spelled frutaria and ferretaria. Maybe this isn’t a language thing so much as a lot of typos on the internet, but it seems they too are used interchangeably by at least some in Spain and Portugal. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207/31 "2016-09-30T04:15:10Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Thanks - I can’t believe the similarity to -ery didn’t occur to me, it’s so obvious now that you’ve pointed it out. Don’t feel too bad- unless you live in a neighborhood like mine, where I can go to the _salumeria_, \*pasticceria \*, _panetteria_ and I think there’s even a _latteria_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-pizzeria-and-not-pizzaria/767207.md?page=1)