the big apple..

‘the big apple’ ?.. there are many theories but not one definitive answer as to why new york city got this nick name. interesting find below.. if a little vague!

One is that it derives from the translation by jazz musicians of the Manzana area as ‘apple orchard’. Another explanation has it that jazz musician’s slang for engagement was ‘apple’ and that a date in New York was the ‘big apple’. The phrase was certainly current in jazz music circles in the 1930s.

Probably the strongest contender is that it was coined in the horse racing community in the southern USA. John J. Fitz Gerald was a horse-racing writer for theNew York Morning Telegraph in the 1920s. He reports hearing the phrase used by stable lads while on a visit to New Orleans in 1920, although there’s nothing in that report to link the phrase to New York.

Fitz Gerald did later use the phrase with reference to New York in his ‘Around the Big Apple’, piece for the Telegraph on February 18, 1924, and that is the earliest citation we can find of it in print:

“The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There’s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.”

So, by his own account, Fitz Gerald didn’t coin the phrase, but it’s likely that he set it on its course to become part of the language.

that, by the way, was a hint to say we were there!! my daughter m and i travelled across the globe to visit my soul sister and her family in san francisco, whilst the boys [m and j] stayed and looked after 128, charley [dog], friday [cat] and the five girls [chickens].

m and i hadn’t landed more than 32 hours before we were back on a plane, this time to new york city. just the girls, all four of us, my soul sister, c, her daughter, p, m and i. we had a limited amount of time there, we tried to fit in as much as we could, which was a lot less than we thought. new york city is HUGE, amazing and HUGE. i was as much in awe the second visit as i was the first and i don’t think i’d go again unless i had at least 2 weeks up my sleeve to really explore this city so full of character.

views from the second tallest building in the states… the empire state building. we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful winter’s day.

empire state building on 102nd..

on the streets…

to the metropolitan museum via central park….

good morning new york city..

soul sister paste ups [c on the left, me on the right] was a fabulous idea hatched by our dear friends sharon and liz. it began in melbourne, june 2011, when c visited me, the first time we met, face to face, for real, after 4 years [to the month] of flickr, facebook and skype conversations. c says she’ll write about it one day, it’s a long and wonderful story of soul sisters connecting deeply on all levels. anyway, we continued our soul sister paste ups in new york city. we began here at brooklyn station…

iPhone photo by my girl.

and there she is.. this is as close as we got to her [this time].

my girl m…

new york city through my eyes.. a whirlwind visit to say the least with every moment explored and enjoyed.
next is san francisco…. stay tuned. mx