Big Apple

"Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sports writer for the New York Morning Telegraph. Its popularity since the 1970s is due to a promotional campaign by the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau, known now as NYC & Company.

Etymology

Although the history of Big Apple was once thought a mystery, research – primarily by amateur etymologist Barry Popik and Gerald Cohen of Missouri University of Science and Technology – has provided a reasonably clear picture of the term's history. Previously, there were a number of false etymologies, including a claim that the term derived from a New York brothel whose madam was known as Eve. This was subsequently exposed as a hoax and has been replaced on the source website with more accurate information.

Early mentions

The earliest citation for "big apple" is the 1909 book The Wayfarer in New York by Edward S. Martin, writing: "Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city.... It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap" (emphasis added).William Safire considered this the coinage, but the Random House Dictionary of American Slang considers the usage "metaphorical or perhaps proverbial, rather than a concrete example of the later slang term", and Popik likewise does not consider this the coinage.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers, started in 1935 by Herbert "Whitey" White. The group took on many different forms, with up to 12 different groups performing under this name or one of a number of different names used for the group over the years, including Whitey's Hopping Maniacs, Harlem Congeroo Dancers, and The Hot Chocolates. In addition to touring both nationally and internationally, the group appeared in a number of feature films and Broadway productions and counted Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr. among their celebrity regulars. By the summer of 1943, with most of its best male dancers having been drafted, the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers had pretty much disbanded. The Savoy Ballroom closed in 1958.

Of all the members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, Al Minns, Leon James and Frankie Manning are amongst the most famous -- Minns and James in part for their role in the research of Jean and Marshall Stearns's influential book Jazz Dance, Minns for his work with The Rhythm Hot Shots during the 1980s' swing revival, and Manning for his role, starting in 1986, in contributing to the swing and Lindy Hop revival after Minns died in 1985. Manning, Lennie Bluett and Norma Miller were among the few members of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers still alive during the 1990s and 2000s and were some of that era's most influential Lindy Hop performers and instructors. With Manning's death in April 2009, Miller alone remains to teach and lecture at dance workshops and Lindy Hop conventions.

Big

Big means large or of great size.

Big or BIG may also refer to:

Film and television

Music

Places

Organizations

Apple

The apple tree (Malus domestica) is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. It is cultivated worldwide as a fruit tree, and is the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Malus sieversii, is still found today. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe, and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek and European Christian traditions.

Apple trees are large if grown from seed, but small if grafted onto roots (rootstock). There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Different cultivars are bred for various tastes and uses, including cooking, eating raw and cider production. Apples are generally propagated by grafting, although wild apples grow readily from seed. Trees and fruit are prone to a number of fungal, bacterial and pest problems, which can be controlled by a number of organic and non-organic means. In 2010, the fruit's genome was decoded as part of research on disease control and selective breeding in apple production.

Hot Shots!

Hot Shots! is a 1991 comedy spoof of Top Gun which starred Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Kristy Swanson, and Bill Irwin. It was directed by Jim Abrahams, co-director of Airplane!, and was written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It was followed by a sequel, Hot Shots! Part Deux. Both Sheen and Cryer would later costar in the TV series Two and a Half Men, with Ryan Stiles playing a recurring role.

Plot summary

The film begins at Flemner Air Base 20 years prior. A pilot named Leland "Buzz" Harley (Bill Irwin) loses control of his plane and ejects, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnum (Ryan Stiles) to crash alone; although Mailman survives, he's mistaken for a deer owing to the branches stuck to his helmet and is shot by a hunter. Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) wakes up from a nightmare he's having about the event when Lt. Commander Block (Kevin Dunn) asks him to return to active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, to help on a new top secret mission: Operation Sleepy Weasel. Harley starts to show some psychological problems, especially when his father is mentioned. His therapist, Ramada (Valeria Golino), tries to keep Topper from flying, but she relents, and also starts to build a budding romance with Topper. Meanwhile, Topper gets into a rivalry with another fighter pilot, Kent Gregory (Cary Elwes), who hates Topper because of the loss of his father "Mailman" to Buzz Harley, and believes Topper may do the same to him.