“Big Apple” and the Dutch phrase, “to buy for an apple and an egg” (2020)
"To buy something for an apple and an egg" (meaning to buy something cheaply) is an idiom in German ("fürn Appel und ein Ei" or "etwas für einen Apfel und ein Ei…
“New York is a sucked orange” (not Big Apple; Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1860)
Ralph Waldo Emerson called New York City "a sucked orange" in an essay printed in 1860. A "sucked orange" has no juice. Emerson didn't like New York. The "sucked…
“Why is New York City called ‘The Big Apple?’ Wrong answers only” (2021)
The New-York Historical Society asked on Twitter on June 2, 2021: "Why is New York City called 'The Big Apple?' Wrong answers only." [NOTE: This is one of over 250 "Big…
Alain Locke and Harlem Renaissance as the “Big Apple” (1920s; suggested in 1988)
Alain Leroy Locke (1885-1954) was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar and a professor of philosophy at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He guest edited Survey Graphic in March 1925 for a…
An apple tree on every street (2013 movie explanation)
In the comedy film Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), television news anchorman Ron Burgundy (played by actor Will Ferrell) takes a job with e 24-hour news channel in New York City.…
Apple Store (2000s)
Apple Inc., a consumer electronics company, opened its first Apple store in Manhattan (103 Prince Street, in Soho) in 2002. Another Apple store was located in midtown Manhattan (Fifth Avenue…
Big A (Aqueduct Racetrack nickname, 1959)
Aqueduct racetrack is popularly known as "the Big A." Clark Whelton (a former writer for the Village Voice and member of the mayor's communications office) told me that he believed…
Big Apple dance craze (1937)
The Big Apple dance craze of 1937 popularized the "Big Apple" term, but didn't originate it. New York (NY) Morning Telegraph track writer John J. Fitz Gerald (1893-1963) had been…
Big Apple of Wathena, Kansas (1928-1940)
There used to be a building (restaurant/dance hall) in the shape of a big apple near Wathena, Kansas. The "Big Red Apple" building was opened in 1928 -- before the 1937 big apple dance…
Big Apple on New Year’s Eve Ball at One Times Square (1981-1988)
For over one hundred years, a ball has been dropped from a pole in New York City to signify the birth of a new year. The tradition has been popularized by the building at One Times Square, but…
Big Apple Whore Hoax (1800s)
The "Big Apple" whore hoax was invented by Peter Salwen's web site in 1995. A president of Salwen's group, the Society for New York City History (SNYCH), has admitted to me that…
Cab Calloway’s “Hepster’s Dictionary” (1938, 1944)
Cab Calloway (1907-1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He published a "Hepster's Dictionary" in 1938, with another edition in 1944. The dictionary contained much Harlem…
Chelsea Apple Orchard (1820s)
Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) -- perhaps best known as the credited author of the yuletide poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" -- lived in what he called Chelsea, in Manhattan. He had an…
Damon Runyon (who never used “Big Apple”)
It's not difficult to see how this "Big Apple" attribution would occur. American writer Damon Runyon (1880-1946) was noted for his underworld slang. He had a character called…
Depression Apple Sellers (1930s)
It is sometimes claimed that "Big Apple" comes from New York City's street apple stands during the Great Depression in the 1930s. This is incorrect. New York (NY) Morning Telegraph…
Edward Martin metaphor (1909)
A 1909 citation by Harper's editor Edward Sandford Martin (1856-1939) is often given as the first citation of "the Big Apple" to mean New York City. It probably shouldn't be…
Five Apple Seeds, Five Boroughs (1990s?)
Cut an apple horizontally, and one often sees a five-seed star pattern. The five seeds are said to represent the five boroughs of New York City. This was posted on Twitter on December 16, 2013:…
Fletcher Henderson popularization of “the Big Apple” in the 1930s
In 1990, Harlem Assemblywoman Geraldine Daniels published a letter in the New York Times that stated that musician Fletcher Henderson (1879-1952) popularized "the Big Apple" in the 1930s.…
Governor Stuyvesant’s Tree (pear, not apple)
It is sometimes (not often, thankfully) said that New York City is called "the Big Apple" because of Governor Peter Stuyvesant's apple tree. Actually, it was a pear tree. The tree is…
Harlem’s jazz musicians (1930s)
Harlem's jazz musicans did undeniably help spread the "Big Apple" phrase in the 1930s, but did not originate it. The Big Apple night club, at Seventh Avenue and West 135th Street,…