Google Answers falls for "Big Apple" whores (AGAIN!)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

   Yes, it's a hoax, but it's a made-for-the-media-hoax, and I don't think it will subside until the revised edition of _Origin of New York City's Nickname "The Big Apple"_ appears and is publicized. Next summer (2005) I'll prepare that manuscript, with Barry Popik listed as co-author in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the subject.

 Meanwhile, for anyone interested in a detailed refutation of Salwen's nonsense,
there's my article "The Big Apple prostitution etymology" in _Comments on Etymology_, vol. 30, no. 8, May 2001, pp. 4-19. I know of no scholar who gives Salwen's etymology even a drop of credibility. It is a hoax through and through.

Gerald Cohen
Professor of German and Russian
(research specialty; Etymology, especially British and American slang)
University of Missouri-Rolla
Rolla, MO 65409
gcohen at umr.edu
P.S. If anyone wishes to forward this message to Google (or elsewhere), they have my permission.

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Sent:         Saturday, October 16, 2004 3:25 A.M.
> Subject:           Google Answers falls for "Big Apple" whores (AGAIN!)
>
> This never ends. You do a good deed for New York City, and you're tortured for the rest of your life.
>
> Google will soon remove my answer to this (just as my other answer was removed/censored). Maybe someone else can say the same thing?
>
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