Texas Radio: Pizza Slang-Name Stirs Controversy

Dallas-based pizza chain, Pizza Patrón, has made a business of catering to particular patrons... Mexican immigrants, who happen to be the restaurant's core customer base. The restuarant is about to launch a new promotion that employs a Mexican slang term that means "super cool" to some, while others find the term deeply offensivem according to The Latin Post.

Pizza Patrón's limited time offer, an extra-spicy pizza that boasts jalapeño encrusted pepperoni, topped with even more jalapeño, is being called La Chingona.

The radio advertisement created to draw customers, depicts a customer walking into the Mexican-friendly establishment, requesting "pizza chingona."

Sarah Portnoy, teacher of Hispanic culinary culture, stated that she would translate the phrase to mean "bad-ass pizza." She then went on to say that it isn't a word that one would use in front of their mother.

"It's not a word I'd use in front of my mother-in-law. It's a word that my 20-something nieces and nephews use among themselves," said Portnoy.

“Our new pizza seems to be causing a lot of challenges for news media outlets,” Andrew Gamm, brand director for Pizza Patrón, told Yahoo. “There is a great deal of misunderstanding surrounding the word 'Chingón' and how it is commonly used in today's culture, particularly among younger Mexicans. Although the term sounds similar to a common Mexican profanity, it is not intended to offend. On the contrary, it is a compliment of the highest order.”

Pizza Patrón says the company's new advertising campaign would not be permitted to air on a number of major radio station . The decision came just weeks ahead of the radio spots planned premiere in Texas Markets on Monday, March 31.

La Z, a Spanish radio station that broadcasts in San Antonio, is airing the commercial but bleeping the pizza's name, according to mysanantonio.com.