Why do they call NYC "The Big Apple"?

Question

Please, without all the historian mumbo jumbo, I need a simple yet comprehensible explaination. We are working with a 6th grade level here. Thanks

Answer 1

FULL OF FRUIT LOOPS

Answer 2

According to my source there are many possible version of the the myth. Some say it is because of Great Depression apple vendors on the streets of NYC, some credit a jazz nightclub, and a popular 1930s dance.

However, it was the jazz musicians that made the term popular. When someone got a "gig" (or job) in the "BIG APPLE" it was a way to stating that they had a chance to play for the hippest, coolest, richest and most appreciative audience out there (so they were likely to make more money) and "take a bite out of the big apple - as in make some money. Of course, everyone loved jazz, so once the muscians started calling it the apple, everyone else did too.

For your sixth grader say something like:

Well, the famous jazz players (explain about jazz in the Harlem Ren. here) called NYC the big apples because it was the biggest job they could get, the apple of their eye. Well, jazz was really popular back then, like Hip-Hop is now, so everyone started calling NYC the big apple, similar to how people call gangsters "Gs" now (ok don't say that to a bunch of young kids, but u get the point).

Answer 3

Brewer's Dictionary of 20th century Phrase and Fable suggests that it comes from the Hispanic nickname of 'La Grande Manzana'(The big street block) because of its street pattern. The Spanish word manzana also means apple. It also could be simply from the idea that New York offered the opportunity for every body to have 'a bite of the apple', that is, a chance of success.

Answer 4

Various accounts have traced the “Big Apple” expression to
Depression-Era sidewalk apple vendors, a Harlem night
club, and a popular 1930s dance known as the “Big Apple.”
One fanciful version even links the name with a notorious
19th-century procuress!

Answer 5

Ummm...good question...something to do with Jazz, I think. Actually I don't know.