Stéphane Bern says that New York owes its nickname “Big Apple” (the “big apple”) to a famous American sports journalist of the 1920s. John J. Fitz Gerald covered for the New York Morning Telegraph horse racing, very popular at the time. He used the expression after hearing two young stable boys use the term “apple” to refer to the rewards offered to the winners of the biggest races. Fitz Gerald therefore began to call his column “Around the Big Apple”.
But Stéphane Bern recalls that two other hypotheses dispute the paternity of the “big apple”, which have nothing to do with the sports world. In music, jazz players have appropriated the expression “Big Apple” to signify the ball of anguish which hugged certain musicians before going on stage. But the very first meaning of “Big Apple” dates back to the 19th century, when a New York aristocrat, known as Eve, decided to open a brothel for young men from good families. She called her customers “my irresistible apples”.
Find The Whys of History (Volume 3) by Stéphane Bern at Albin Michel editions.
