Best Panini Grill

Why does everyone keep referring to Italian sandwiches as "a panini" or "paninis"?

Anyone know why the Italian word for sandwiches is so badly butchered in America? Here, the word is treated as a singular form; thus, you get people ordering "a panini" at restaurants, or talking about the "great paninis" they had somewhere. Even so-called Italian restaurants, who should have done at least 5 minutes' worth of research on the subject, make this mistake. Anyone who has taken so much as a day or two worth of Italian language courses (or has cracked open an Italian dictionary) knows that the word "panini" is PLURAL and is translated as "sandwiches." The "i" at the end is the common indicator for a plural word in Italian. The singular form for sandwich is "panino." So when you say "a panini," you are, in effect, saying "a sandwiches." To put an English plural "s" on the end of "panini" makes it even more nonsensical. "Sandwicheses?" Honestly. Can anyone explain who is responsible for this error that has now, sadly, become very common?

Public Comments

1. I guess it's not that serious
2. Someone that is ignorant?
3. honestly, you could disect or butcher many words in many languages, not just italian. there are common errors such as this in EVERY language. A panino is a sandwich made from a small loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta. The loaf is often cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, meat, cheese or other food, and sometimes served hot. The word is Italian (literally meaning small bread roll), with the plural panini. "Panini" is often used in a singular sense by speakers of languages that borrow the word, including English and French, and pluralised when necessary into "paninis". "Panini" is also a brand of grill made specifically for grilling these sandwiches. In Italian, panino refers variously to a bread roll and a sandwich, and a paninoteca is a sandwich bar. In Central Italy, there is a popular version of panino which is filled with porchetta, i.e. slices of roasted pork.
4. Welcome to America, honey! We don't care about accuracy - just convenience. Panini sounds better to our ears and rolls off the tongue easier than panino, so that's what we call it. Hell, at Taco Bell they have a "chalupa," some form of soft taco or something. But do you know what a chalupa actually is? It's a small boat! But we're Americans! We don't care, as long as it's cheap and tastes good! Woohoo!
5. Well, they pronounce 'calzone' as 'cal - zone' instead of 'cal-zon-e'. What do you expect? I agree with you. Gees Louise, people, at least pronounce things in English as close to the original language as English pronunciation allows!!!
6. That's a rhetorical question. You make a good point though.
7. "Panini" sounds more foreign and is easy on the tongue.
8. I really don't know-except blame it on the media. If you can go to a Chinese restaurant and order a Pu-Pu platter which is Hawaiian we will definitely mess up panini :)
9. i thought panini means a sandwich that has been pressed in a machine. i think most restaurants wanna go with the flow, because if one restaurant says panino people might think they're wrong, unless they go inside and ask ofcourse
10. That's like "Little Chiquitas". Those mini-bananas in the produce section. It's a redundant, strange name for them.
11. most Americans have no knowledge of a foreign language. I never had even a day of Italian in school so I had no idea
12. It's the fashion.
13. Welcome to the world of Americanized offensive stereotyping by marketing people who evidently never bother to do their homework. Unfortunately the wrong words are used because of their massive exposure in mainstream media. Get used to the idea, no matter how much you try to clarify this misconception, the word is there to stay. Of course Americanized Italian restaurants will pick up the term because it sells. I feel the same way with misconceptions like fajitas which everyone seems to label as Mexican.
14. A panino is a sandwich made from a small loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta. The loaf is often cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, meat, cheese or other food, and sometimes served hot. The word is Italian (literally meaning small bread roll), with the plural panini. "Panini" is often used in a singular sense by speakers of languages that borrow the word, including English and French, and pluralised when necessary into "paninis". "Panini" is also a brand of grill made specifically for grilling these sandwiches. In Italian, panino refers variously to a bread roll and a sandwich, and a paninoteca is a sandwich bar. In Central Italy, there is a popular version of panino which is filled with porchetta, i.e. slices of roasted pork. During the 1980s, the term paninaro (maker and seller of panini, shop selling panini) was used to denote a style typical of young people supposed to eat and meet in sandwich bars such as Milan’s Al Panino; a track entitled 'Paninaro' appears on Pet Shop Boys' albums Disco and Alternative.
15. Yes, panino means sandwhich and panini means sandwhiches. I really don't know why people just can't say they are eating an Italian sandwhich. I've been living in Italy for 8 years now, and it bugs me when English-speaking people (especially Americans) butcher up the names of the foods. What's worse is even if you tell them how to pronounce it correctly, they'll still continue pronouncing it wrongly.
16. It was me. I also invented vichy-swah.