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A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Pizza Bones
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1
2010/08/16 - 8:01pm

My sister is so much younger than me that our childhoods did not overlap. She just mentioned that she grew up with the term "pizza bones". I knew what she meant (and loved the term) instantly – I'm curious as to how many others can infer the meaning just from the term. Anyone?

johng423
129 Posts
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2
2010/08/17 - 12:44am

The first thing that came to mind was the uneaten crusts... although these are often dipped in some kind of sauce (as breadsticks are) and eaten.

(And I can hear Bullwinkle answering the question, "Should pizza be eaten with the fingers?" by saying, "No, the fingers should be eaten separately." Just a random thought...)

Guest
3
2010/08/17 - 8:56am

Right on the button. My sister would throw the uneated crusts to the dog, and so started calling them "bones".

It seems to me that if a term is easy to understand without a lengthy explanation, then it is easier for that term to catch on. You want your listener's reaction to be "I get it," rather than, "What does that mean?" I was curious as to how easily understood this term is - thanks for humoring me.

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4
2010/08/17 - 12:42pm

Very poetic. They do look just like ribs.

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
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5
2010/08/17 - 3:28pm

I don't know how long I have known them as pizza bones, maybe 30 years? Being raised to clean my plate, I did notice when peers not raised that way left piles of them aside. To me, they looked similar to the discarded piles of chicken bones.

Emmett

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6
2010/08/18 - 8:01am

Never heard the term, probably because in my family we always eat the crusts. But the meaning of "pizza bones" was immediately clear to me.

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
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7
2010/08/20 - 3:04pm

books.google.com finds a book published in 1983 which has "pizza bones": Memo: to myself when I have a teenage kid.

Emmett

Ron Draney
721 Posts
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8
2010/08/20 - 3:27pm

A few years ago someone referred to the process of going through a magazine before reading it, removing all the blow-in subscription cards and inserts, as "de-boning the magazine".

Guest
9
2010/08/23 - 8:51am

Ron Draney said:

A few years ago someone referred to the process of going through a magazine before reading it, removing all the blow-in subscription cards and inserts, as "de-boning the magazine".


Thank you, I love that. I always de-bone the magazines before I read them. Finding an insert while reading is about as pleasant as pulling a fishbone out of your mouth.

I'm also reminded of a "Peanuts" strip in which Linus has just finished eating some grapes He looks at the branch that held all the grapes and says, "Nothing left but bare bones."

Guest
10
2010/08/23 - 4:02pm

Sometimes I do, too. Reader's Digest used to have ads but not as many as now: I sometimes go through a copy, stripping every page that has full-page ads on both sides, and by the time I'm through the mag is about half its original thickness. Really! Vogue is probably even worse.

Guest
11
2010/09/14 - 8:10am

I have no idea where I picked this term up from... but I know I started to refer to them as "pizza bones" around Junior High School (so '98-'99). I LOVE LOVE LOVE this term! My son (who is 3) also refers to them as "pizza bones" and it is so cute!
We are of course eaters of the "pizza bones" as they are tasty with ranch!

Guest
12
2010/09/14 - 6:22pm

YES! Not all pizza crusts are good, but Pizza Hut (don't laugh, I'm not kidding) does something buttery with their pan-pizza crust that makes them delicious. Other brands, not so much. But if you like garlic bread, it's easy to be in the mood for pizza crusts.

Guest
13
2010/09/21 - 6:36am

I remember the time I first heard the term. We were eating homemade pizza in my kitchen with our neighbors (south suburban Chicago), and the wife commented on the "bones." I instantly loved and adopted the term. We are bone eaters, too! It's one of the many things I learned from that friend who left us entirely too early. 🙁

Guest
14
2016/10/31 - 11:04pm

Pizza Bones is a thick curved crust of a pizza slice.I have heard people using that term often when I was enjoying a pepperoni feast pizza in my neighboring pizzeria called freshslice pizza.  

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