Barry Popik

Barry Popik (born 1961) is an American amateur etymologist, a rated chess master who has competed in more than a hundred countries, and an administrative law judge who has also run for political office in New York City.

Personal background

Barry Popik was born in 1961 and raised in Rockland County, New York. He was educated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York, graduating B.S. (Economics) in 1982, B.S. (Management) 1982; and in 1985 he graduated J.D. from Touro Law School in Huntington, New York. Barry Popik and wife, Angie, were long-time Manhattan residents, but the Popiks now live in Austin, Texas. [cite web | first = Barry | last = Popik | url = http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/04/home_of_the_hamburger.html | title = Home of the Hamburger? | work = American Thinker | date = 2007-04-01 | accessdate = 2007-04-19 ]

Chronicler of the American Language

In a profile on January 2, 2001, Ed Zotti described Barry Popik in "The Wall Street Journal" as "the restless genius of American etymology." [cite news | first = Ed | last = Zotti | authorlink = Ed Zotti | work = The Wall Street Journal | format = article preview; archive subscription required | url = http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/wsj/access/65896770.html?dids=65896770:65896770&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+2%2C+2001&author=By+Ed+Zotti&pub=Wall+Street+Journal&edition=Eastern+edition&startpage=A.20&type=91_1996&desc=Hot+Dog!+%60Big+Apple%27+Explained | title = Hot Dog! `Big Apple' Explained | date = 2001-01-02 ] He is a contributor-consultant to the "Oxford English Dictionary", "Dictionary of American Regional English", "Historical Dictionary of American Slang", and the "The Yale Book of Quotations". He is recognized as an expert on the origins of the terms "Big Apple", "Windy City," "hot dog," and many other food and slang terms; he is a consulting editor of the "Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America".

Popik's work on the etymology of Big Apple has been widely acclaimed. Previously, it was thought that New York City's nickname came courtesy of jazz musicians' slang for the city. But, after extensive research at the New York Public Library, Popik traced the term back to the 1920s, when it was coined by journalist John J. Fitz Gerald, a horse racing reporter for the "New York Morning Telegraph". Horses love apples, and when Fitz Gerald overheard African-American stable hands in a New Orleans racetrack talking about a particular race-course in the city as 'the Big Apple' — or the greatest reward any thoroughbred could want — he fell in love with the description and re-titled his racing column "Around the Big Apple". In 1997, Mayor Rudy Giuliani passed legislation renaming the southwest corner of West 54th Street and Broadway, the corner on which Fitz Gerald resided from 1934 to 1963, “Big Apple Corner". Popik was honored by being asked to dedicate the new street name.

Political career

Popik was the Republican Party and Liberal Party of New York candidate for election as Manhattan Borough President in 2005. Popik received more than 40,000 votes but finished second to Scott Stringer, who received more than 200,000 votes. Stringer spent more than $1.5 million on his election campaign, whereas Popik spent less than $10,000. Popik's showing is respectable in a heavily Democratic city where the Republican Party did not even attempt to run candidates for Comptroller, Public Advocate or District Attorney.

Judicial career

Since 1990, Popik has served as a New York City administrative law judge in the Parking Violations Bureau of the City's Department of Finance.

Publications

Contributor

Author

*
* Co-author, "The Origin of New York City's Nickname "The Big Apple" (forthcoming 2006).

Consulting Editor

* (Senior Consulting Editor)
* (Consulting Editor)

Subject

Publications in which Popik is a subject:
*

Notes

External links

* [http://www.barrypopik.com Barry Popik's website, The Big Apple]
* [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990917.html Barry Popik's work on the meaning of "Big Apple"]
* [http://www.uschess.org/msa/MbrDtlMain.php?10093678 USCF Chess rating for Barry Popik]

Persondata
NAME= Popik, Barry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Etymologist, judge, chess master
DATE OF BIRTH = 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH = Rockland County, New York, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =