“Big Road Apple” (Big Apple + road apple) is an unflattering nickname for New York City. “Road apple” is a term derived from the horse manure that used to be found on roads in the 1800s and early 1900s.
“Big (Road) Apple” was printed in a 1985 newspaper and “Big Road Apple” was printed in a 1989 newspaper.
Wiktionary: road apple
Etymology
Probably with reference to the supposed similarity to rotten apples.
Noun
road apple (plural road apples)
1. (idiomatic, dated, often pluralized) Horse manure, especially when deposited on a road.
24 September 1985, Akron (OH) Beacon Journal, “Warner’s Corner” by Stuart Warner, pg. B1, col. 5:
The New York public relations firm of Cohn & Wolf, which handles the American Greetings account, apparently assumed that everyone would know it was holding a press conference for a Cleveland firm in the Big (Road) Apple.
17 May 1989, The Times (Munster, IN), “Knicks learn to let Ewing take charge” by Gene Seymour, pg. C-4, col. 1:
After failing three of four previous tests miserably, the Knicks gave the appearance that they must read press clippings for homework, so thoroughly did they follow the sage advice of print savants here in the Big Road Apple.
Google Groups: alt.sex
Trap! (a sick invention…)
Hemingway8
3/19/95
Julian:
This guy is a turd anyway. New Yorkers are traditionally a pain in the ass. Why should this one lone schmoe be any different? I used to live there. I have never seen a more disgusting, decaying nightmare of shit than the City of the Five Boroughs. Big Apple my ass. Big Road Apple is perhaps more suitable.
Google Groups: uw.mfcf.people
FYI: The Big Apple
Dani A. Roloson
2/5/98
In article
Ray Butterworth
wrote:
>
>Which begs the question:
>why did 1920s stablehands refer to NYC race-courses as “The Big Apple” ?
Horses make (road) apples. NYC smells like a big (road) apple. 8-)
Google Groups: alt.sports.baseball.ny-yankees
M’s fans posting in this group
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
10/16/00
(...)
C’mon New Yorkers, where is your sense of pride?—not to mention your sense of humor. I want to hear you defend every last diseased rodent and battery chucker crawling through every borough of the Big Road Apple.
Google Groups: alt.atlanta
Moving to Atlanta
Moonraker
7/12/03
Thrash….this yankee “thinks” Atlantans refer to the Metro area as the “Peachtree City”...he had no clue at all there IS a Peachtree City. Much as NY’ers call NYC the big (road) apple. ;>)
Twitter
Best Friends
@bestfriends
The Big (Road) Apple: http://bit.ly/fSF5LL #BFblog ~Speak up for the animals of #NYC ^CS
3:38 PM - 22 Dec 2010
Google Books
Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage:
A Chicana Punk Story
By Alice Bag
Port Townsend, WA: Feral House
2011
Pg. 270:
BIG ROAD APPLE, PART 2
We arrived in Times Square later than expected; ...
Twitter
Alice Bag
@AliceBag
Shannon, Trixie Treat and me in NYC, 1978 - The Big Road Apple parts 1 and 2, from Violence Girl. http://tmblr.co/ZRNgPxUtNgrF
11:21 PM - 7 Oct 2012
Twitter
Hole Lover
@APLesbians
Big Road Apple
#NYCin3Words @midnight
11:04 AM - 7 Nov 2014
Twitter
ScorpiOhm
@MasterDragonfly
#UnappealingCities The Big Road Apple
6:13 PM - 18 Dec 2015
Twitter
arojadagas
@arojadagas
Good sense from New York (state). Don’t hold you breath as to the Big Road Apple.arojadagas added,
FOX & friends
@foxandfriends
.@Suffolk_Sheriff praises President Trump for making gang eradication a priority http://bit.ly/2vf2ORY
2:58 AM - 1 Aug 2017
Twitter
Joe American
@MidAmericanGuy
This is more insanity out of the “Big Road Apple”. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/nyregion/5pointz-graffiti-judgment.html?referer=http://www.google.com/search?q=new+york+graffiti&oq=new+york+graffiti&gs_l=mobile-heirloom-serp.12…0.0.1.806.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0….0…1c..34.mobile-heirloom-serp..0.13.1271.CVbIWr42TJg … @TheDemocrats are turning a once great city into third world banana republic. Soon there will be dysintary and cholera outbreaks because @BilldeBlasio turned the streets into sewers
3:22 PM - 13 Feb 2018