# The Big Potato (nickname for Chicago)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052 "2004-04-03T13:59:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sami41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Sami41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sami41)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/1 "2004-04-03T13:59:46Z")
One of my friends has insisted for years that one of the many nicknames for Chicago is “The Big Potato.” His story is that the name came sometime during the industrial revolution (more to the point, Chicago’s industrial revolution). Supposedly, the nickname was given by folks in the Big Apple as essentially an insult ( i.e. Wouldn’t you rather have an apple than a potato) to discourage business from leaving NY for Chicago. I’ve never heard anything like this from anyone but him. My grandmother was born and raised in Chicago and she never heard this. Is this B.S., or just little known? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/2 "2004-04-03T18:20:31Z")
I’ve lived in Chicago for 60 years. Never heard the reference. And a brief peek at Google (“the big potato” and “the big potato” + chicago) yields zip. Sounds like something someone once said. Doesn’t make it a lie. Just extremely local. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/3 "2004-04-03T18:48:06Z")
Hog butcher to the world. The windy city. Chi Town. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/4 "2004-04-03T18:49:07Z")
Google is my friend: > **[Chicago History](https://www.chipublib.org/chicago-history-3/)** > > Chicago History > > > Show Menu: Chicago History > > > > Chicago History > > Chicago MayorsHarold Washington > > Chicago Timeline > Chicago… ---
**Author:** ![Sami41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Sami41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sami41)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/5 "2004-04-03T22:45:31Z")
Thanks guys/gals. [quote] The origin of the “Windy City” nickname is a bit more obscure. It is based not on the wind velocity, but on loud and windy boosterism. In the early part of the nineteenth century, Chicago promoters went up and down the East Coast loudly promoting Chicago as an excellent place to invest. Detractors claimed they were full of wind. Later, Chicago and New York were competing to hold the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Charles A. Dana, editor of the New York Sun, wrote an editorial advising against the “nonsensical claims of that windy city. Its people could not hold a world’s fair even if they won it.” This editorial is widely credited with popularizing the “Windy City” nickname. [quote] I’m wondering if he’s mixing this up with his industy theory and the “smelly onion.” I’ll ask him. Thanks ~S ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/6 "2004-04-03T22:49:12Z")
Purely on the post title, I guessed it was a reference to Chicago being the more Irish city. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/7 "2004-04-03T23:49:41Z")
> [@](#): > > This editorial is widely credited with popularizing the “Windy City” nickname. Whatever you do, just don’t trust the “Windy City” explanation. Barry Popik will haunt you forever. :eek: Chicago was called the Windy City well before Dana wrote his editorial. And all it implied was how windy it was. Most of the rest of the info remains speculative. It was a popular name with out-or-state newspaper writers 20 years or more before Dana wrote his piece. > [@](#): > > His story is that the name came sometime during the industrial revolution (more to the point, Chicago’s industrial revolution). Supposedly, the nickname was given by folks in the Big Apple as essentially an insult ( i.e. Wouldn’t you rather have an apple than a potato) to discourage business from leaving NY for Chicago. Also, tell your friend that the name “Big Apple” for NYC starts about 1910-20. That would probably help to defeat his assertion. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-potato-nickname-for-chicago/238052/8 "2004-04-03T23:53:11Z")
“Purely on the post title, I guessed it was a reference to Chicago being the more Irish city.” In that case, it should really be called The Big Pierogie.