"Big Apple" prostitution etymology

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Dear Peter Salwen (with a  cc. to the American Dialect Society),
    I am presently preparing the second edition of my 1991 monograph Origin of New York City's Nickname "The Big Apple," this time with Barry Popik as co-author.  Included is a detailed critical analysis of your earlier suggestion that the sobriquet derives from prostitutes.

    In the course of my research I have found not a shred of evidence to support any of the supposed facts you advanced, and several other members of the American Dialect Society also weighed in concerning this.  If by chance, this assessment is incorrect, i.e., if there is any evidence at all to support anything you said when propounding the prostitution etymology, please feel free to send it along. I would take that evidence into consideration in my treatment of the etymology.

     At the moment, everything points to your suggestion being a spoof, a hoax.  But before the manuscript is completed, I wanted to be sure that you have a chance to comment on this.

Sincererly yours,
Gerald Cohen
Professor of German and Russian
Research specialty: Etymology (various areas)
Department of Arts, Languages, and Philosophy
University of Missouri-Rolla
(name change as of Jan. 1, 2008: Missouri University of Science and Technology)
Rolla, MO 65409
e-mail: gcohen at umr.edu

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