The Big Apple (cont.)

[Clark Whelton]

March 4, 2002
 
TO:  The American Dialect Society

FROM:  Clark Whelton

RE:  The Big Apple (cont.)


Barry Popik has demonstrated convincingly that the name of John J. Fitzgerald's column in the old racing tabloid "The Morning Telegraph" was responsible for popularizing The Big Apple as a nickname for New York City.  Barry's research also shows that Fitzgerald first heard this term used by a stable hand at a race track in New Orleans, and assumed "The Big Apple" meant New York City.

Maybe not.  

Last year I read some letters written by my father's older brother during World War I.  In one letter written from his military camp in eastern Long Island and dated February, 1918, he wrote:  "The last time I was on Long Island we went to play the ponies at the Big A.  Not having so good a time now."

"The Big A" was -- and still is -- a nickname for Aqueduct Race Track in New York.  Aqueduct was established in 1894.  By 1918, it was apparently known among racing fans as "The Big A," a nickname that was popularized much later in a NYRA advertising campaign.

Barry Popik has also shown that 19th and early 20th century  spelling and grammar texts often illustrated the letters of the alphabet with various objects, and that "A is for Apple" was a frequent usage.

The question:  when that stable hand mentioned he was going to "The Big Apple," was he referring to New York City or to "The Big A," Aqueduct Race Track?  Fitzgerald thought he meant the city.  In fact, it may be that "The Big "A" (Aqueduct) became known in the racing world as "The Big Apple,"  which in turn -- thanks to Fitzgerald -- became a nickname later applied to the entire city.
 
Clark Whelton