McKean, Sheidlower, Barrett, Kleinedler in NY Times; "Hot Dog" never to appear

[bapopik at AOL.COM]

McKEAN, SHEIDLOWER, BARRETT, KLEINEDLER IN NEW YORK TIMES

Jeez, I'm doing parking tickets ten hours a day and didn't have time to
walk five blocks to the library during my lunch hour to check my e-mail
and the newspapers. No one points this out? No one reads the New York
Times?



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/19/arts/19dict.html
CHICAGO - Erin McKean answered the door to her brick apartment building
in the Lincoln Square neighborhood here wearing a casual outfit
accented by bright, pink-framed glasses and a pair of beat-up
black-and-white Converse sneakers. She led a visitor down the wending
stairs to her basement office, where she proceeded to sit down - or
rather bounce - on a black exercise ball.

"Drink?" she asked. She brought the beverage in a neon-blue glass.

Might Ms. McKean be an escapee from a local version of Cirque du
Soleil? A young woman in the throes of suspended adolescence?

Hardly. She is one of the youngest editors in chief of one of the "Big
Five" American dictionaries: At 33, she is in charge of the Oxford
American Dictionary. (The others are American Heritage,
Merriam-Webster, Webster's New World and Encarta.) She was appointed
last year, and the first Oxford dictionary created under her auspices
will hit stores next month. And she is not alone. Ms. McKean is part of
the next wave of top lexicographers who have already or may soon take
over guardianship of the nation's language, and who disprove Samuel
Johnson's definition of a lexicographer as "a harmless drudge."

They include Steve Kleinedler, 38, who is second in command at American
Heritage and has a phonetic vowel chart tattooed across his back; Grant
Barrett, 34, project editor of The Historical Dictionary of American
Slang, whom Ms. McKean describes as looking as if he'd just as soon fix
a car as edit a dictionary; and Peter Sokolowski, 35, an associate
editor at Merriam-Webster and a professional trumpet player. Jesse
Sheidlower, 36, editor at large of the Oxford English Dictionary, is
best known among the group so far, partly because he is also editor of
"The F-Word," a history of that vulgar term's use in English. He is
known for his bespoke English suits, too.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HOT DOG," NEVER TO APPEAR IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

David Shulman died in November. His obituary mentioned a forthcoming
book on the "hot dog" with Gerald Cohen and Barry Popick.

Well, the book's out. I asked Jerry to send a copy to Florence
Fabricant of the Times food section. She gives blurbs on food products
and books and goings on. I'll try to explain this in Tonto English. HOT
DOG--NEW YORK--FOOD.

Nothing. No response.

"Hot dog." This is a well-known food. It's a New York food and a New
York story. The New York Times runs a food section every week. Sundays,
too.

What are they waiting for? David Shulman's already dead. Gerald Cohen
to die? Me to die? Will I have to wait until 2017 (twelve years) like I
did with the Big Apple? Do they review restaurants for the first time
two decades after they open?

So I wrote to the newspaper's Public Editor. You know, I've had great
success with these guys, especially with the Chicago Tribune. They
respond to the public. If you tell them that your work is plagiarized
and they printed stuff you never said, the public editors really listen
to you and respond. They really care about printing timely, important,
accurate news.

And the NY Times Public Editor replied that they get so many books,
they can't review every book, blah blah blah. A form letter. I could
have written that.

The Times is a lot kinder to restaurants. Every big name restaurant
gets reviewed right away. Even a small, ridiculous hole-in-the-wall
that sells goddamn dumplings gets reviewed the week it opens, or gets a
blurb, or gets SOMETHING. But if you solve the "hot dog," something
that's not done every day, by anyone, actually, well, it's already ten
years ago, hell, they're never going to print it! Never! NEVER! We're
the Times! You solved the Big Apple? The hot dog? Fuck you!

And it's like this every day of my life, and it never gets better.


(E-MAILS)

Attached Message


From:
Bapopik

To:
public at nytimes.com

Cc:
gcohen at umr.edu; jester at panix.com; sclements at neo.rr.com;
jakenyt at yahoo.com

Subject:
Re: "Hot Dog" book briefly mentioned in Times, but never appears?

Date:
Fri, 18 Mar 2005 12:57:56 AM Eastern Standard Time




Thanks for the reply.

...

As I said, we sent a "hot dog" copy to Florence Fabricant of the food
section--not to the book review. She mentions food news.

...

The "hot dog" is an important food, and it's a New York story, too.
Gerald Cohen was recently interviewed about this in the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch. It would make a wonderful food story for the start of
the baseball season.

...

As you may know, I solved  "the Big Apple" in 1992, had the mayor sign
"Big Apple Corner" into law in 1997, and finally got profiled in the
Times in 2004. I guess these things will take years, but I'll never
understand why.

...

Very truly yours,

...

Barry Popik

...

In a message dated 3/18/2005 12:36:26 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
public at nytimes.com writes:

At 01:21 AM 3/16/2005, you wrote:

To the Public Editor,
...
In November 2004, David Shulman died. His Times obituary mentioned that
he was co-authoring a book on the origin of the term "hot dog" with
Gerald Cohen (gcohen at umr.edu) and Barry Popik. That book is out. A free
copy was given to Florence Fabricant. There's no follow-up?
...
The legend of the "hot dog" had been that New York Journal cartoonist
T. A. Dorgan ("TAD") coined the word "hot dog" at a baseball game at
New York's Polo Grounds, in either 1901 or 1906. Our book states that
TAD did use "hot dog" in 1906--when he was covering the Harry
Stevens-catered six-day bicycle race at Madison Square Garden.
...
Our book reveals that "hot dog" had been used at Yale University, from
1894-1895. We have wonderful newspaper illustrations that the Times can
reproduce.
...
Our work is mentioned in the Winter 2005 edition of the journal
_Gastronomica_. I am also credited on the web pages of the National Hot
Dog and Sausage Council.
...
It's now the start of the baseball season. Is the New York Times going
to ever tell its readers about the true story of the hot dog? Or is
that brief mention in David Shulman's obituary going to be it?
...
Barry Popik
225 East 57th Street, Apt. 7P
New York, NY 10022
(212) 308-2635
www.barrypopik.com

Dear Mr. Popik,

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