NYMysteries  Jan, 2,  2021

 While reading Liane Moriarty’s “The Husband’s Secret” for the second time, I came across an Australian character wondering why NYC is referred to as the big apple. Who knows? Wikipedia knows.

It was used by John J. Fitz Gerald who wrote horse-racing columns for The New York Morning Telegraph. He first heard two African Americans in New Orleans referring to New York’s racetracks as the big apple. In 1929 Fitz Gerald wrote, “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.” By the 1950s the term was considered old fashioned, out-dated. It was revamped in the 1970’s during NYC’s financial crises and has been popular ever since.