Editing Big Apple (section)

== Origin ==
Although the history of "Big Apple" was once thought a mystery,<ref>[[Cecil Adams|Adams, Cecil]] (February 18, 1977) [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_382.html "Why is New York called the Big Apple?"], ''[[The Straight Dope]]''</ref> a clearer picture of the term's history has emerged due to the work of historian [[Barry Popik]],<ref>[[Barry Popik|Popik, Barry]] [http://www.barrypopik.com/ "The Big Apple"]. Research by Barry Popik and others with the text of contemporary examples.</ref> and Gerald Cohen of the [[Missouri University of Science and Technology]].<ref>Cohen, Gerald (1991) ''Origin of New York City's Nickname "The Big Apple"''. Bern, Switzerland: Peter Lang. {{ISBN|3-631-43787-0}}</ref> A number of false theories had previously existed,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/category/C10/| title = "False Etymologies"}}</ref> including a claim that the term derived from a woman named Eve who ran a brothel in the city.<ref name=salwen /> This was subsequently exposed as a hoax.<ref name=salwen>{{cite web|url=http://www.salwen.com/apple.html|title=Why Is New York City Called "The Big Apple"?|first=Peter|last=Salwen|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19971010010804/http://www.salwen.com/apple.html|archive-date=October 10, 1997}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/big_apple_whore_hoax_1800s/| title = "Big Apple Whore Hoax (1800s!)"}}</ref>

The earliest known usage of "big apple" appears in the book ''The Wayfarer in New York'' (1909), in which [[Edward Sandford Martin]] writes: <blockquote>Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city ... It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.<ref>{{Cite news | first = William | last = Safire | author-link = William Safire | title = Big Applesource | newspaper = [[The New York Times Magazine]] | date = September 17, 2000 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-9-17-00-on-language-slurvian.html?pagewanted=2}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | first = William | last = Safire | author-link = William Safire | title = The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time | year = 2004 | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=blcCxBWVdzgC&pg=PA23&dq=big%20apple 23]| publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=9780743242448}}</ref></blockquote> [[William Safire]] considered this the coinage, but because the phrase is not quoted in the text, it is likely that it was used as a metaphor, and not as a nickname for the city.<ref name=gothamist>Hamilton, Alex (January 21, 2020) [https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/big-apple-nickname-origin-nyc-history "Where Did The Nickname 'The Big Apple' Come From?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200122030521/https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/big-apple-nickname-origin-nyc-history |date=January 22, 2020 }} ''[[Gothamist]]''</ref>

=== Horse racing origin ===
"The Big Apple" was popularized as a name for New York City by [[John J. Fitz Gerald]] in a number of horse-racing articles for the ''New York Morning Telegraph'' in the 1920s. The earliest of these was a casual reference on 3 May 1921:

{{Blockquote|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.<ref>[http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/first_big_apple_may_3_1921/ "First 'Big Apple': May 3, 1921"].</ref>}}

Fitz Gerald referred to the "big apple" frequently thereafter.<ref>[http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/numerous_1920s_big_apple_citations_in_the_new_york_morning_telegraph/ Numerous 1920s “Big Apple” citations in the New York Morning Telegraph].</ref> He explained his use in a column dated February 18, 1924, under the headline "Around the Big Apple":

{{Blockquote|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.<ref>[http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/first_big_apple_explanation_february_18_1924/ First “Big Apple” explanation: February 18, 1924]. See also the original article [http://www.barrypopik.com/images/FitzGerald1.gif image].</ref><ref name=gothamist />}}

Fitz Gerald reportedly first heard "The Big Apple" used to describe New York's racetracks by two African American stable hands at the New Orleans Fair Grounds.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Hutchinson, Sean|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/31841/why-new-york-city-called-big-apple|title=Why is New York City Called The Big Apple?|date=May 8, 2018|access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref><ref name=gothamist /> Using racing records, Popik traced that conversation to January 1920.<ref name=gothamist />

In recognition of Fitz Gerald's role in promulgating "The Big Apple" as a nickname for New York City, in 1997 Mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]] signed legislation designating as "Big Apple Corner" the southwest corner of West [[54th Street (Manhattan)|54th Street]] and Broadway, the corner on which John J. Fitz Gerald lived from 1934 to 1963.<ref>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/html/97/sp082-97.html Mayor's Press Office, Release No. 082-97, Mayor Giuliani Signs Legislation Creating "Big Apple Corner" in Manhattan (Feb. 12, 1997)].</ref>  The Hotel Ameritania also once had a plaque which was installed in 1996, according to Popik, but it was removed during renovations to the building and was lost.<ref name=gothamist />

Evidence can also be found in the ''[[Chicago Defender]]'', an African-American newspaper that had a national circulation. Writing for the ''Defender'' on September 16, 1922, "Ragtime" Billy Tucker used the name "big apple" to refer to New York in a non-horse-racing context:

{{quote|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.<ref name="linguistlist_antedating_1920vaudeville">[http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0801D&L=ADS-L&P=R9794 "Big Apple" antedating] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220232332/http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0801D&L=ADS-L&P=R9794 |date=February 20, 2008 }}; [http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/1920s_vaudeville_ragtime_big_apple_citations/ 1920s Vaudeville/Ragtime “Big Apple” Citations].</ref>}}

Tucker had also earlier used "big apple" as a reference to [[Los Angeles]]. It is possible that he simply used "big apple" as a nickname for any large city:

{{quote|Dear Pal, Tony: No, Ragtime Billy Tucker hasn't dropped completely out of existence, but is still in the 'Big Apple', Los Angeles.<ref name="linguistlist_antedating_1920vaudeville" />}}