# Windy City-Chicago-Bary Popik and the power of The Reader

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [December 26, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710 "2004-12-26T21:54:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [December 26, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710/1 "2004-12-26T21:54:59Z")

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The title says it all.

[Link to Cecil’s column(s) on Windy City origin and Barry Popik]]([http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990917.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990917.html))

Barry just sent me and Ed Zotti an email about this. (We both monitor the American Dialect Society, where Barry posts much of his original research).

I’d love to be able to link you to the NPR Chicago story, but can’t find it yet.

I don’t think Barry will mind me posting this here.

> [@](#):
>
> Take a bow for Chicago, Chicago Reader!
> 
> The Chicago Tribune finally, after a mere seventy years or so, did a story about the origin of the “Windy City” that got it right. New York Sun editor Charles Dana didn’t coin or popularize “Windy City” in the bidding for the 1893 World’s Fair. The article’s author, Nathan Bierma, admitted on Chicago Public Radio that the Chicago Reader articles had influenced him to write an article on the topic and to get it straight.

Congrats to Barry, Mr. Bierma, and The Reader.

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**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710/2 "2004-12-27T04:41:35Z")

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There seems to be a Cecil Adams/Barry Popik Mutual Admiration Society, based on Cecil’s remarks in [this, more recent, column](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/041112.html).

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**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710/3 "2004-12-29T19:11:59Z")

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Maybe Cecil Adams \*\*IS \*\* Barry Popik!

I suppose I’ll have to be killed now …

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710/4 "2004-12-29T20:04:54Z")

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Here’s a link to the [Chicago Tribune story](http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0412070313dec07,1,4607873.story) (free registration required).

> [@](#):
>
> Popik’s findings have been available for years, posted at the American Dialect Society and his Web site ([www.barrypopik.com](http://www.barrypopik.com)), published in the journal Comments on Etymology, and reported by the “Straight Dope” column of the Chicago Reader. Yet, to Popik’s exasperation, the myth that Dana coined the name “Windy City” circa 1890 goes on and on.

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windy-city-chicago-bary-popik-and-the-power-of-the-reader/281710/5 "2004-12-29T20:08:13Z")

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Here’s the [Chicago Public Radio story](http://www.wbez.org/DWP_XML/848/2004_12/848_20041207_0935_3979/segment_175002.ram) (audio file).