ath and beal equal apple- citations from the tongue of the mouth of the river...

[Patty Davies]

Wow, Barry!  In one relatively brief post, you have a great listing of
resources for researching purposes!  Very helpful email to save.

Thanks,

Patty

At 02:18 PM 1/16/03 -0500, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>    "Ath" and "Beal" equal citations for "Big Apple."  Oh boy.  This never
> ends!  I guess people aren't familiar with ADS-L archives, the RANDOM
> HOUSE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG, or even Google, so here
> goes again.
>    We don't have one single citation anywhere that would indicate that
> "Big Apple," as the nickname for New York City, comes from the Irish
> language.  We have huge databases at our fingertips--full text of the NEW
> YORK TIMES, full text of the WASHINGTON POST, the MAKING OF AMERICA
> databases, the AMERICAN MEMORY database, the HARPER'S WEEKLY full text
> database, THE NATION full text database, full text of many Irish songs,
> slang lists such as George Matsell's--really, that's a lot.
>    And we don't have a single credible citation anywhere.
>    If all this is wrong, you must prove it is wrong.  Go to the New York
> Public Library and read until your eye sockets fall out.  New York will
> thank you for it.  Read every single year and every single issue of IRISH
> ECHO and IRISH VOICE and IRISH WORLD and IRISH CITIZEN and UNITED IRISHMAN.
>    Pick up a publication such as GAELIC AMERICAN (1903-1951).  Read
> through every single word that's been printed for the entire run.
>    Then report back on any and all "Big Apples" that you find.
>    We'll listen to you!