[Ads-l] Barry Popik, continued work on "Big Easy"

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Barry Popik continues to do extensive work on American speech and word origins,

and I now share one such item of his; it should be of interest to name researchers

in Louisiana. If anyone in ads-l personally knows a historian interested in Louisiana

place names/nicknames, perhaps Popik's message below could be drawn to their attention.


Gerald Cohen


From: Barry Popik <bapopik at aol.com>
To: <snip>
Sent: Sat, Mar 2, 2019 4:45 pm
Subject: The "Big Easy" 1911 dance hall in Gretna (East Green) has been located. Please tell others,

then put up a historical marker.


Re:
https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/02/28/the-origin-of-the-nickname-the-big-easy-isnt-what-you-think/
https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/02/26/new-orleans-city-of-nicknames/
...
To the Gretna City Council:
...
The location of the 1910s "Big Easy" dance hall has been found. It was not located at New Orleans
at all. "Big Easy" was at Lafayette and Eighth in Gretna (East Green), and it burned down in 1911.
...
For the 25th annual Gretna Heritage Festival, you can honor the "Big Easy."
...
I have asked Gretna's mayor to verify the "Big Easy" location, and to ask everyone if they can
add more information (relatives of "Big Easy" dance hall owner Paul Batson are surely still alive),
and then, finally, to honor the "Big Easy" location with a plaque, possibly during the Gretna Heritage
Festival.
...
I have done additional work on the origins of "Big Easy" (finding 1960s citations) and "Big Apple"
(which originated at the Fair Grounds 100 years ago), and I have tried to give it to Gretna and to New
Orleans <snip>
...
Barry Popik
www.barrypopik.com


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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org