NEW YORK CITY (THE BIG APPLE)
NEW YORK CITY, AKA, "THE BIG APPLE/THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS" BECAME AN UNION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AS NUMBER 11 OF ENTRY, ON JULY 26, 1788.
THE BIG APPLE IS A NICKNAME OR MONIKER FOR NEW YORK CITY. IT WAS FIRST POPULARIZED IN THE 1920s BY JOHN J. FITZ GERALD, A SPORTS WRITER FOR THE NEW YORK MORNING TELEGRAPH. ITS POPULARITY SINCE THE 1970s IS DUE TO A PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN BY THE NEW YORK CONVENTION AND VISTORS BUREAU, KNOWN NOW AS NYC & COMPANY.
HISTORY OF THE TERM
Although the history of the Big Apple was once considered a mystery, research over the past two decades, primarily by noted amateur etymologist Barry Popik and Professor Gerald Cohen of Missouri University of Science and Technology, has provided a reasonably clear picture of the term's history. Prior to their work, there were a number of false etymologies, of which the most ridiculous was the claim that the term derived from a New York brothel whose madam was known as Eve. This was subsequently exposed as a hoax and has been replaced on the source web site with more accurate information.
The Big Apple was first popularized as a reference to New York City by John J.Fitz Gerald in a number of New York Morning Telegraph articles in the 1920s in reference to New York horse-racing. The earlies of these was a casual reference on May 3, 1921:
J.P. Smith, with Tippity Witchet and others of the L.T. Bauer string, is scheduled to start for "the big apple" to-morrow after a most prosperous Spring campaign at Bowie and Havre de Grace.
Fitz Gerald referred to the "big apple" frequently thereafter. He explained his use in a February 18, 1924, column under the headline "Around the Big Apple":
The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple. That's New York.
Two dusky stable hands were leading a pair of thoroughbred around the "cooling rings" of adjoining stables at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conservation.
"Where y'all goin' from here?" queried one.
"From here we're headin' for the Big Apple," proudly replied the other.
"Well, you'd better fatten up them skinners or all you'll get from the apple will be the core," was the quick rejoinder.
Fitz Gerald's reference to the "dusky" stable hands suggests the term's origin may lie in African-American culture. Support for this is found in the Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper that had a national circulation. "Ragtime" Billy Tucker, a vauderville/ragtime performer and writer for the Defender, there used "big apple" to refer to New York in a non-horse-racing context on September 16, 1922:
I trust your trip to 'the big apple' (New York) was a huge success and only wish that I had been able to make it with you.
The same writer had earlier used "Big Apple" as a reference to a different city, Los Angeles. This example, from May 15, 1920, is the earliest known use of "Big Apple" to refer to any city. It is possible that the writer simply understood "Big Apple" as an appropriate nickname for any large city:
Dear Pal, Tony: No, Ragtime Billy Tucker hasn't dropped completely out of existence, but is still in the 'Big Apple', Los Angeles.
By the late 1920s, New York writers other than Fitz Gerald were starting to use "Big Apple" and were using it outside of a horse-racing context. "The Big Apple" was a popular song and dance in the 1930s. Walter Winchell and other writers continued to use the name in the 1940s and 1950s.
By the 1960s, "the Big Apple" was known only as an old name for New York. In the early 1970s, however, the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau (now NYC & Company, the official marketing and tourism organization for New York City), under the leadership of its president, Charles Gillett, begin promoting "the Big Apple" as the city's moniker. It has remained popular since that time. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in 1997 signed legislation designating the southwest corner of West 54th Street and Broadway, the corner on which John J. Fitz Gerald resided from 1934 to 1963, as "Big Apple Corner."
Since 1980, the New York Mets baseball team has featured a "Home Run Apple" that rises when a Mets player hits a home run at Shea Stadium and Citi Field.
Source: Wikipedia
AS A NATIVE NEW YORKER, BORN AND RAISED IN THE BRONX, NEVER LEFT THE CITY, I WAS SURPRISED TO LEARN, VIA "GOOGLE" READER, HOW EXCITING NEW YORK CITY WAS AND CONTINUES TO BE. HOWEVER, JAZZ NEEDS TO RETURN, ESPECIALLY RADIO. WE NO LONGER HAVE A JAZZ STATION IN THIS GREAT CITY, AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY?
A COUPLE OF TIMES I ACTUALLY HEARD JAZZ BY CALLING GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS, AND IT WAS PLAYED ON MUSICAL "HOLDING", WHILE YOU AWAIT INFORMATION. NOW AND THEN I MIGHT WANT TO HEAR THE SOUNDS OF THIS MUSIC, SO I MIGHT CALL AN INSTITUTION -- (EITHER THEY MISSED THE GREAT MUSIC, OR THEY FORGOT THIS IS STILL NEW YORK CITY). IN THE PAST, I WOULD LISTEN TO WBGO--88.3 FM (NEW JERSEY), THEN THAT WAS TAKEN AWAY TO BECOME COUNTRY, NOW IT'S BACK, AND DURING THEIR ABSENCE, I LISTENED TO A STATION IN CONNECTIUT--THE STATION DIAL (93 FM?) ESCAPES ME, THEN I FOUND AND FELL IN LOVE WITH CD 101.9--THAT WAS MORE THAN 15 YEARS AGO. LAST YEAR, FEBRUARY, 2008, THAT WAS TAKEN AWAY FOR THE 100TH ROCK STATION IN THIS CITY, AND TO HEAR THE GREAT TUNES OF JAZZ, PAST AND PRESENT, YOU MUST PURCHASE A HIGH DEFINITION (HD) BOX, TO LISTEN AND ENJOY THE SOUNDS OF THE OLDEST EUCATIONAL, SOOTHING MUSIC AROUND, AND YOU MUST PAY FOR IT--WHAT A RIP OFF!! IT'S LIKE SETTING CIVIL RIGHTS BACK OVER 100 YEARS OR SO --THE 24TH AMENDMENT--PAY A POLL TAX TO VOTE.... (PAY TO LISTEN TO JAZZ, NEWS, WEATHER, ETC.)--THIS EVEN SOUNDS LIKE--EUROPE--BEFORE IT BECAME --"RADIO FREE-EUROPE.''
WITHIN THIS "BLOGGER" ARE CLIPPINGS OF NEW YORK CITY--NOSTALGIA--ENJOY!!
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, IS VERY EDUCATIONAL AND ENTERTAINING. LIKE THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS, YOUR MIND DOESN'T EITHER--IT'S CONSTANTLY ON THE GO! IT'S A VAST DIFFERENCE WHEN I HAD TO GO (BECAUSE OF SCHOOL)--NOW--IT'S "ENTER-NET CITY," INFORMATIVE, A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE, TUTORING, OUTREACHING, NOSTALIGIC, MOVIES, NEWSPAPERS (EVEN BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY--HEAVEN!!).
NOW WE ALL KNOW ONE OF MY HANG OUTS!!--THAT'S WHY I AM PRO-SE--ALWAYS RESEARCHING AND LEARNING.
THANKS TO MY FAVORITE LIBRARIAN, MR. CARLOS CHAVEZ, WHO TAUGHT ME E-MAILING, AND EXCEL (SPREADSHEET), WHERE TO FIND BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY, AND THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, AS A WHOLE, ASSISTED ME IN MY PULISHED NOTEBOOKS, AS OUTLINED IN MY PROFILE.--AS ABOVE, ENJOY THE CLIPPINGS!!
THANK YOU NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY!!
LILLIAN ANN MACK, PRO-SE
