Barry Popik

Barry Popik

Barry Popik (born August 6th, 1961) is an American etymologist. Popik is a consulting editor of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America^{[ citation needed ]} and was described in The Wall Street Journal as "the restless genius of American etymology". ^[1]

Early life and education

Popik was born and raised in Rockland County, New York, in 1961, to Silvia Stahl and Sidney Popik.^{[ citation needed ]} He was educated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York, graduating with a B.S. in economics in 1982 and a B.S. in management^{[ clarification needed ]} in 1982.^{[ citation needed ]} He received a J.D. from Touro Law School in Huntington, New York, in 1985.^{[ citation needed ]}

Career

Popik is a freelance contributor-consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary , Dictionary of American Regional English , Historical Dictionary of American Slang and The Yale Book of Quotations .^{[ citation needed ]}

Popik contributed his independent research to the 2011 edition ^[2] of Professor Gerald Cohen's original 1991 monograph ^[3] on the etymology of "Big Apple" — that it was first popularized in the 1920s by sports writer John J. Fitz Gerald — which led to the New York City street corner where Fitz Gerald lived being renamed "Big Apple Corner" in 1997. ^[4]

Political career

Popik was the Republican Party and Liberal Party of New York candidate for election as Manhattan Borough president in 2005.^{[ citation needed ]} He received more than 40,000 votes and finished second to Scott Stringer, who received more than 200,000 votes.^{[ citation needed ]} Popik was a law judge with the Parking Violations Bureau of the city's Department of Finance.^{[ citation needed ]}

Personal life

Popik met his wife Angie Garcia, a political strategist, while running for Manhattan Borough president in 2005. They married shortly afterward and moved to Austin, Texas, in September 2006, and had two children.^{[ citation needed ]} After seven years in Austin, the family moved back to New York.^{[ citation needed ]}

Publications

Author

• Cohen, Gerald Leonard; Barry A. Popik (1999). Studies in Slang: Part VI. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. ISBN   0-8204-4377-8. OCLC   62059348.
• Cohen, Gerald Leonard; Barry A. Popik (2006). Studies in Slang: Part VII. Archived from the original on 2011-08-26.

Contributor

• Smith, Andrew F. (2004). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-517552-3. OCLC   53476629.
• Shapiro Fred R., ed. (2006-10-30). The Yale Book of Quotations . New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. ISBN   978-0-300-10798-2. OCLC   66527213.

References

Notes

1. Zotti, Ed (2001-01-02). "Hot Dog! 'Big Apple' Explained". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on 2022-04-12. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
2. Cohen, Gerald Leonard (2011). Origin of New York city's nickname "The Big Apple". Barry A. Popik (2nd revised and extended ed.). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. ISBN   978-3-631-61386-3. OCLC   695283049.
3. Cohen, Gerald Leonard (1991). Origin of New York city's nickname "The Big Apple". Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang. ISBN   3-631-43787-0. OCLC   23766305.
4. "Mayor Giuliani signs legislation creating "Big Apple Corner" in Manhattan" (Press release). New York: Mayor's Press Office. 1997-02-12. Retrieved 2014-03-07.

External links

• Barry Popik's website, The Big Apple