A government committee in charge of enforcing language regulations in Tajikistan has recently caused many laughs by insisting that the word “pizza” should be replaced with “pitzo” on restaurant signs in the country's capital. According to the committee's chair, “pitzo” sounds more “Tajik”.
#Tajikistan [1] has officially renamed pizza “pitzo”. For whatever reason. #onlyintajikistan [2]
— Only in Tajikistan (@onlytajikistan) February 6, 2014 [3]
The announcement has earned the committee a lot of ridicule from social media users. Facebook users have even launched a new public group, “Pitzostan [4],” where users ridicule language innovations and funny mistakes on signs and advertisements. They also discuss a possibility of creating “the independent Facebook Republic of Pitzostan”.