Entry from January 29, 2005
Knife & Fork, Bottle & Cork Spell "New York"
"A knife and a fork, a bottle and a cork; that's the way to spell New York" is a popular New York City rhyme that dates back to at least 1910. The children's rhyme was used in games and activities, such as jump rope and hopscotch.
"A chicken in the car and the car won't go; that's the way to spell Chicago" is a similar rhyme.
[Doug Wilson, of the American Dialect Society list, found the 1915 citation below.]
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
3 December 1910, The Sun (New York, NY), "Segregation of Negroes," pg. 6, col. 4:
... the entrance to Central Park, then I submit that "knife and fork, bottle and cork," symbolical of hospitality and conviviality, would no longer be "the great white way" to "spell New York," ...
WILLIAM H. MENCHINE.
BALTIMORE, December 2.
21 Dec. 1915, Syracuse (NY) Herald, p. 7, col. 2:
FREAK LETTER REACHES
DESTINATION QUICKLY
Buffalo Postoffice Clerk Solves Puz-
zle of Strangely Addressed
Missive.
The address side of the envelope bore in the center a picture of a buffalo. Underneath were the pictures of a knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork. The latter is part of a saying - "A knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork spells New York.["] The local clerk interpreted this part right when he guessed that the letter was meant for some [sic] in Buffalo, N. Y.
3 October 1921, Daily News (New York, NY), "Wake of the News" by Uppercut, pg. 16, col. 3:
A knife and a fork,
A bottle and a cork,
That's the way
To spell New York.
A. D. R.
23 November 1921, San Francisco (CA) Chronicle, "A Line o' Type or Two," pg. 12, col. 1:
Folk-Lore from Maryland
collected by Annie Weston Whitney and Caroline Canfield Bullock
Published by the American Folk-Lore Society
G. E. Stechert and Co., New York, Agents
Knife and fork,
Bottle and cork,
29 December 1937, New York (NY) Sun, pg. 23, col. 1:
JINGLE BELL INFLUENCE.
Foolish Rimes That Pop Into a Head Occasionally.
What Do You Think Editor -- Sir: In addressing a letter to Chicago, recently, there flashed into my mind a saying which I used to hear in my childhood -- "A chicken in the car, the car won't go; that's the way to spell Chicago." For New York there was a similar verse: "A knife and a fork, a bottle and a cork; that's the way to spell New York."
A Treasury of American Folklore
edited by B. A. Botkin
New York, NY: Crown Publishers
Knife and fork!
Bottle and cork!
That's the way to
Spell New York!
June 1947, Hoosier Folklore, vol. VI, no. 2, pg. 7:
A jug and a fork,
And that's the way to spell New York.
A Rocket in My Pocket:
The Rhymes and Chants of Young Americans
compiled by Carl Withers
illustrated by Susanne Suba
New York, NY: Henry Holt
A knife and a fork
A bottle and a cork
Knife and Fork in New York:
Where to eat, what to order
by Lawton Mackall
New York, NY: R. M. McBride
New York City • Food/Drink • Saturday, January 29, 2005 • Permalink