A jocular definition of an apple is:
“APPLE: Nutritious lunchtime dessert which children will trade for cupcakes.”
The jocular definition was posted to the newsgroup bit.listserv.down-syn in 1998 and possibly comes from the book The Mom Dictionary (1993) by Valerie McKeown and Chris Brethwaite.
OCLC WorldCat record
The mom dictionary
Author: Valerie McKeown; Chris Brethwaite
Publisher: Kansas City : Andrews and McMeel, ©1993.
Edition/Format: Print book : English
Google Groups: bit.listserv.down-syn
HUMOR: MOM’S DICTIONARY
Ralph & Judi Lowenthal
1/7/98
(...)
>APPLE: Nutricious lunchtime dessert which children will trade for cupcakes.
Google Groups: alt.tasteless.jokes
Dictionary for Moms
THE BIG PIG
2/3/98
(...)
APPLE: Nutritious lunchtime dessert which children will trade for cupcakes.
Google Books
The World’s Best Bathroom Book:
An Inspirational Collection of Wit, Wisdom, Humor, and Fascinating Facts
By Honor Books
Colorado Springs, CO: Honor Books
2005
Pg. 118:
A-Z Dictionary for Moms
(...)
APPLE: Nutritious lunchtime dessert, which children will trade for cupcakes
Twitter
🇮🇳 Ğяєєи мσик
@iGreenMonk
APPLE: Nutritious lunchtime dessert which children will trade for cupcakes.
#MOMDICTIONARY
9:30 PM - 22 Jan 2014
Twitter
david cordick
@decordick
Apple: Nutritious lunchtime dessert which children will trade for cupcakes.
3:07 PM - 17 Dec 2014
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•
“Memorizing pothole locations is a survival skill in New York” (3/30)
•
“White Privilege: The ability to suffer whatever life throws at you without blaming another…” (3/30)
•
“What is a skeleton’s favorite form of measurement?"/"Graveyards!” (3/30)
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“Tell someone you love them today. Tomorrow is not promised” (3/30)
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More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik.