[Ads-l] "The Big Easy"

[Baker, John]

In print, at least, the acronym “NOLA” (short for New Orleans, Louisiana) seems to have taken over (although I haven’t been to New Orleans since 2015, when my daughter graduated from college there).  There did not seem to be any particular prejudice against “Big Easy,” but perhaps it is more acceptable in contexts relevant to tourists and other visitors.  I don’t recall ever hearing “Crescent City.”


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Yagoda
Sent: Monday 4 March 2019 9:47 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: "The Big Easy"

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Forgive me if Barry or someone else has already mentioned this, but my impression is that current-day New Orleaneans chafe at “the Big Easy,” the way San Franciscans don’t like “Frisco.” Again, my impression is that they prefer “the Crescent City” as a nickname, which “problematizes” this finding of Barry’s: “In an interview with Larry McKinley in The Times-Picayune on January 25, 1976, talking about his days at the radio station WYLD:
“We were told ‘Don’t say Crescent City.'”

Ben

> Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2019 02:33:47 +0000
> From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject: Barry Popik, continued work on "Big Easy"
>
> 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/2019/02/28/the-origin-of-the-nickname-the-big-easy-isnt-what-you-think/>
> https://www.bigeasymagazine.com/2019/02/26/new-orleans-city-of-nicknames/<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<http://www.barrypopik.com>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>

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