"Tagline Guru" survey has 'Big Apple" number one nickname

[Jonathan Lighter]

Norfolk, Va., has long had a naval nickname which didn't make the Top Fifty either.

JL

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: Re: "Tagline Guru" survey has 'Big Apple" number one nickname
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On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 14:33:24 -0400, Wilson Gray wrote:

>How can this be?! My birthplace, Marshall, TX, "The Fire-Ant Capital
>of the United States," didn't make the cut? I'm so disappointed!

You'll need to add that to Wikipedia's "Self-Proclaimed Capitals" list...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_city_nicknames#Self-proclaimed_Capitals_of_the_World

No fire ants, but they do have the fire *hydrant* capital of the world
(Albertville, Alabama) and the fire *brick* capital of the world (Mexico,
Missouri).

There's a reasonably comprehensive list of city nicknames here:
http://got.net/~landauer/lists/CityOf.html


--Ben Zimmer


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