What does migrate mean?

English as a Second Language English Teacher Explanations (ESL Tests)
1

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #181 [color=blue]“Facts about pizza in the US: pizza industry expressions”, question 9

Pizza … to America with the Italians at the end of the nineteenth century.

(a) roamed
(b) wandered
(c) drifted
(d) migrated

English Language Tests, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #181 [color=blue]“Facts about pizza in the US: pizza industry expressions”, answer 9

Pizza migrated to America with the Italians at the end of the nineteenth century.

Correct answer: (d) migrated

Your answer was: [color=green]correct
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I thought the word migrate is uses just for people…

2

Hello again Zarinamo,

Yes, usually it implies a living agent (whether human or animal). If the Italians had not been mentioned, the sentence would have sounded humorous or strange; but here, the sentence really means “the Italians migrated, and took pizza with them”.

“Migrate” can also be used metaphorically, especially in IT; for instance, you “migrate” data when you transfer it to a new system or format, e.g.

  1. We recently migrated the data to a new SQL server.

Best wishes,

MrP

3

Thank you very much. Now it is clear… :wink: