"Windy City" plagiarism (part two)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

ADS-L doesn't seem to like this part of the post. I'll edit the e-mail
addresses, This appears to give ADS-L problems:


For the record, here's the detailed e-mail that I recently distributed:

Subj: "Windy City" (1876) (Three messages)
Date: 9/11/2004 12:06:34 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Bapopik

"Windy City," for the benefit of everybody, on the brink of the Encyclopedia
of Chicago publication:

In October 2003, I posted these two messages to the American Dialect Society
list. I sent copies to the Newberry Library, which I knew was preparing the
Encyclopedia of Chicago (last message below). I also sent copies to the Chicago
Public Library--which has outdated information on its web site to this day.

This was not an isolated "Windy City" post. I had long identified that "Windy
City" has nothing to do with New York City, and that the earliest citations
all come from Cincinnati.

The citations were also not found by accident. I had to travel to the Library
of Congress. Further, it's not even on microfilm in the Library of Congress,
You have to request the book volumes (stored in Maryland)  in advance.

I don't know what the Encyclopedia of Chicago will contain, but I generally
assume that my important work on Chicago history will be ignored completely.

Barry Popik (ridiculously kind scholar)
New York, NY

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"WINDY CITY" POST (One)

Date:         Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:34:46 -0400
Reply-To:     American Dialect Society

It's also, very clearly, a few days later.

13 May 1876, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, pg. 2, col. 1:
_CHICAGO LETTER._
_The Sad Story of a Base-Ball Tour--How_
_the "Cincinnatis" Took their Punish-_
_ment._
Special Correspondence of the Enquirer.
CHICAGO, May 11, 1876.
When the Red Stockings left Cincinnati for Chicago Tuesday morning they never
dreamed they were going three hundred miles to get "skunked."
(...)(Col. 2--ed.)
The trouble was not with the boys, but with the chairs.  The latter had been
cut out for slimmer people than base-ball men, and fit too tightly.  There was
no time to lose, however, in prying off chairs, and the boys all started
trainward, chairs and all.  Only the plucky nerve of the eating-house keeper
rescued the useful seats from a journey to the Windy City.

(I was told that the Library of Congress is missing the 1876 CINCINNATI
ENQUIRER volume before this one--ed.)

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"WINDY CITY" POST  (Two)

Date:         Mon, 20 Oct 2003 15:00:24 -0400
Reply-To:     American Dialect Society

Greetings from the Library of Congress.
  (...)
THAT WINDY CITY

It's earlier.

No matter what happens, though, the Chicago Public Library's web page still
retains the 1893 World's Fair myth.  DO THEY STILL NOT BELIEVE ME?  DON'T
PEOPLE IN CHICAGO DESERVE TO KNOW THIS?

Do I charge too much (free) for my work?

15 April 1876, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, pg. 4, col. 1:
NONE of the obnoxious office-holders in Chicago have been murdered as yet.
Two or three Committees are thought to be preparing ropes and selecting
lamp-posts, but the "probabilities" for the region may be summed up as follows:
"Calm, with occasional newspaper gusts."

17 April 1876, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, pg. 1, col. 2:
GARDEN CITY GROWLERS.

28 April 1876, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, pg. 1, col. 4:
The Bristow Bazoo at the Garden City.

8 May 1876, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, pg. 4, col. 1:
THERE was a little tornado in Chicago on Saturday, but it spent itself mostly
on churches.  All the other buildings in Chicago were so heavily weighed down
with mortgages that no whirlwind could affect them.

9 May 1876, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, pg. 2, col. 4:
_THAT WINDY CITY._
_Some of the Freaks of the Last Chicago_
_Tornado._
[From Yesterday's Times.]
The traditional fickleness of the wind was shown in strange odjects on which
it exerted its force.

(It is not clear what "Yesterday's Times" is, but column six has a story from
"New York Correspondence Chicago Times"--ed.)

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"WINDY CITY" POST (Three)

Date:         Mon, 7 Apr 2003 18:40:00 EDT
Reply-To:     American Dialect Society

Gerald Cohen wrote the "Big Apple" entry for the ENYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK CITY
(1995), by the New-York Historical Society.  The late Irving Lewis Allen
wrote the "Gotham" entry.

The long-delayed ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHICAGO HISTORY is a project of both the
Chicago Historical Society and the Newberry Library.  I gave my "Windy City"
papers to the CHS seven years ago, and Gerald Cohen had given a COMMENTS ON
ETYMOLOGY copy to Newberry.  No one contacted me, so I just thought that I'd contact
them.

It looks like they're going to use my older work, without credit.

Barry "Neither rain, nor snow--hey, what's up with the snow?" Popik


Subj:   Re: Fwd: "Windy City" in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHICAGO HISTORY
Date:   4/7/2003 4:52:56 PM Eastern Standard Time

Dear Mr. Popik,

Thanks for your interest in the Encyclopedia of Chicago History.  We are
essentially done with the preparation of the A-Z entries for the Encyclopedia.
Our entry entitled "Windy City" was assigned and completed several years ago,
and our editors are satisfied with its contents.

No one here was aware of your work when the entry was assigned, but had that
not been the case, you certainly would have been a likely person to approach.

I believe your work may be the basis for a reference in our entry to a nearly
use of the term "Windy City" in 1885. The online discussions that I find to
your research cite an 1885 _Cleveland Gazette_ headline.  I'm almost reluctant
to ask if you have since uncovered anything earlier, because we are far enough
into the end stages of preparation that our counterparts at the University of
Chicago Press will be ready to give us grief for considering modifications.
But if you have earlier citations, we would of course prefer to include to the
best information we can.

Best wishes in all your researches,

Douglas Knox
Managing Editor
Encyclopedia of Chicago History
The Newberry Library
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 255-3642