Big Apple Big Onion; Blimp (1916)

[Laurence Horn]

>On Wed, 15 Jan 2003 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>
>#In a message dated 1/15/2003 10:18:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>#GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU writes:
>#
>#
>#> I hope that someone will respond with info on the more accepted origins of
>#> the Big Apple instead of just ridiculing this suggestion, imaginative as it
>#> may be.
>#
>#   We've done this a thousand times.
>
>But the person writing in with this supposed etymology, if he is in good
>faith -- and I see not indication to the contrary -- doesn't know that.
>As the sergeant said to his 47th crew of raw recruits who didn't know
>left from right, "Jee-zus CHRIST!!! I've been screamin' at you morons
>for a month-and-a-half and you STILL ain't got it straight!!???"

I often feel that way myself when I'm teaching intro classes.

>
>This is part of the price we pay for having been in this game a long
>time. There are ALWAYS new people. And that's good.
>
It's also an argument for maintaining a FAQ, including etymological
info on "Big Apple", "hot dog", "Windy City", etc.  Notice I'm not
volunteering for the job.

larry
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