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The "Big Apple" is a nickname or alternate toponym for New York City. Its popularity since the 1970s is due to a promotional campaign by the New York Convention and Visitor's Bureau. Its earlier origins are less clear.

The most plausible explanation cited as of 2004 by the New-York Historical Society and others is that it was first popularized by John J. Fitz Gerald , who first used it in his horse racing column in the New York Morning Telegraph in 1921 and explained its origins in his February 18, 1924 column. Fitz Gerald credited African-American stable-hands working at horseracing tracks in New Orleans:

In 1997, as part of an official designation of "Big Apple Corner" in Manhattan, Mayor Rudy Giuliani summarizes the rest of the story:

A decade later many jazz musicians began calling the City "The Big Apple" to refer to New York City (especially HarlemHarlem is a neighborhood of Manhattan, long known as a major African American cultural and business center. Although the name is sometimes reckoned as comprising the whole of upper Manhattan, traditionally Harlem is bounded on the south by East 96th Stree) as the jazz capital of the world. Soon the nickname became synonymous with New York City and its cultural diversity. In the early 1970s the name played an important role in reviving New York's tourist economy through a campaign led by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau. Today the nickname "The Big Apple," which replaced "Fun City," is the international description of our city and is synonymous with the cultural and tourist attractions of New York City.

Therefore, it is only fitting that the southwest corner of West 54th Street and Broadway, the corner on which John J. FitzGerald resided from 1934 to 1963, be designated "Big Apple Corner."

1 Earlier use

A documented earlier use comes from the 1909 bookSee also 1908 in literature, other events of 1909, 1910 in literature, list of years in literature. Events New Books Anne of Avonlea Lucy Maud Montgomery Ann Veronica H. Wells Balthazar Anatole France Daphne Mary Augusta Ward La Derive Andre Billy L'Encha The Wayfarer in New York by Edward S. Martin. He wrote (regarding New York) that the rest of the United States "inclines to think the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap."

Etymologists have been unable to trace any influence that this use had on the nickname's popularity.

2 External links

• Giuliani creates Big Apple Corner from the February 1997 Archives of the Mayor's Press Office
• The Big Apple from amateur etymologist Barry Popik
• Straight Dope article about the subject, with follow-on
• FAQ on the subject from the New York Public Library1897 1911, Carrere and Hastings, architects (June, 2003) The New York Public Library (NYPL is one of the United States of America's leading libraries, and one of three public library systems serving New York City. Its main building on Fifth Avenue illustr website
• Q&A including the subject from the New-York Historical Society website

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Topics: Big Apple New York City Corner Earlier Nickname Manhattan 1970s...

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