Can anyone tell me why New York City is called the Big Apple?

Question

I've always wondered this, but nobody seems to have the answer.

Answer 1

All of the details are here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_apple

Answer 2

- Rumor has it that the "Big Apple" is so named because during the depression, many former financiers would travel from their suburban cottages in full suits in order to sell apples on the streets of New York. The rumor goes that several well-to-do families had to make ends-meet by selling apples and the charade became know to many as the "Big Apple" scam of New York. Since apples have always been a big part of the New York economy the name simply stuck and was eventually promoted by local government.

- Shelly Warwick: "The story I've always heard as to how New York began to be called the Big Apple is that jazz musicians would refer to getting a job in New York as playing the Big Apple, and the term filtered into the general vocabulary."

- Paul Bloess: "The term 'Big Apple' was originally used in the 1920s and '30s by jazz musicians as a way of saying, 'There are many apples on the success tree, but when you pick New York City, you pick the Big Apple.'"

- Aubrey Starr: "'The Big Apple' was the name of a jazz club. Jazz musicians used the name as synonymous with New York City because of the club's popularity. Going to New York invariably meant playing a set at The Big Apple."

- Christopher Harper: "The club in Harlem, once called "The Big Apple", is now a Pharmacy."

- Scott Butler: "Accoring to David Ellis's Lonely Planet 'New York City' guide (1st edition, Sept. 1997, p. 11), NYC was named so not because of jazz musicians, but because a writer covering horse races in 1920 (named John FitzGerald) repeated in the 'Morning Telegraph' what stable hands in New Orleans referred to a trip to a NY racecourse as the 'Big Apple', or greatest reward for any thoroughbred. The city government has agreed to this story, and all public tourist literature has been ammended to reflect this."

Answer 3

There are three very different explanations. Basically, "big apple" is a metaphor for "big money"

Answer 4

something about a river system in america? the mississippi being the truck and the NYC one of the apples of the "tree" (of rivers)...idk..that could be right but don't hold me to it

Answer 5

http://www.all-ny.com/info/whybigapple.html
http://www.classbrain.com/artstate/publish/article_951.shtml