"The Very Tall Horse" (New York City)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   A few more notes for William Safire to correct for his next column.  I'll do motorcycle slang from CHOPPERS later today.

"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."
--William Safire's column last Sunday.

   This is NOT the quote!  We gave it to him!  He can't even do that correctly!
   "It" does not refer to Kansas.  The full quote is:

"New York is merely one of the fruits of that great tree whose roots go down in the Mississippi Valley, and whose branches spread from one ocean to the other, but the tree has no great degree of affection for its fruit.  It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap."

   There are a mere 45 words between "New York" and "the  big apple."  You'd never know that from Safire's parsing.
   William Safire has never read THE WAYFARER IN NEW YORK (1909, introduction by Edward S, Martin), so let's read it for him.
   New York is the Frontier City:

Pg. xi (first line):  NEW YORK is a frontier city situated about halfway between San Francisco and London.
Pg. xxi:  An important fraction of the annual immigration that lands at Ellis Island clings to New York and gets no farther.  Therein lies her title to be called a frontier city...

   Not convinced that good ole Ed thinks that New York City is "the Frontier City"?
   How about "The Museum"?

Pg. xxi:  Ethnologically, as every one knows, New York is a museum.

   Come on!  Everyone knows that New York is The Museum!
   How about "The Very Tall Horse"?

Pg. xxii:  To ride a tall horse does not make a man great, but it may make him look great and even feel great.  New York is a very tall horse, and many who ride her look bigger and feel bigger for that exploit.

   William Safire had better apologize to those dead African-Americans ("Popik makes a strong case, but I'd credit Martin with coinage and Fitzgerald (sic) with independent recoinage and early popularization.") immmediately.