Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Gotham


In preparation for The Dark Night, some NYC masterminds want to make the city's moniker "Gotham" official. Some Big Apple food for thought:

In 1907, the term "Gotham" was first used to reference Manhattan by hometown hero/writer, Washington Irving in the Salmagundi Papers.


From Gotham Center:

"The word itself is English in origin and dates from the Middle Ages. Gotham, or "Gotam," was the name of a real and often-ridiculed town in England, whose residents had a reputation for madness.

A variant on this story was that Gothamites were not truly mad but simply "wise enough to play the fool" -- in a variety of ways they merely acted silly to gain their ends."

TMT totally digs that. We often feign insanity to get what we want: sandwiches.

For a full list of one-time NYC nicknames, check this out. We like "The Port of Many Ports" or "The Money Town." What's your fav?

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