Mini-Apple or Minneapple (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

“Minneapolis” actually means the “city of lakes” or “city of waters.” However, it sounds like it means “mini-apples.”
 
After “the Big Apple” became famous in the 1970s, some writers began calling Minneapolis the “mini-apple.” Unlike Manhattan (Kansas) with “Little Apple,” “Mini Apple” was never trademarked or formally used.
 
“Minneapple” has been cited in print since at least May 1982 and “Mini Apple” since at least October 1983.
   
 
Wikipedia: Minneapolis
Minneapolis (/ˌmɪniˈæpəlɪs/), officially the City of Minneapolis, is the county seat of Hennepin County, and largest of the Twin Cities, the 14th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, containing approximately 3.8 million residents. As of 2013, Minneapolis is the largest city in the state of Minnesota and 46th-largest in the United States with 400,070 residents.
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Minneapolis’ name is attributed to the city’s first schoolteacher who combined mni, a Dakota Sioux word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city.
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Nickname(s): “City of Lakes”, “Mill City”, “Twin Cities” (a nickname shared with Saint Paul), “Mini Apple”
   
17 May 1982, Gazette Telegraph (Colorado Springs, CO), “Executive picks slower track” (from MONEY magazine), pg. B12, col. 4:
What kinds of people get the results they sought from major alterations in their lives? To find out, Money magazine interviewed one executive who moved from the Big Apple to the Minneapple.”
 
31 October 1982, New York (NY) Times, pg. 73, col. 2 ad:
NOBODY BEATS
REPUBLIC’S
MINNEAPPLE FARE
FROM THE BIG APPLE
(Republic Airlines.—ed.)
 
17 March 1983, Altoona (PA) Mirror, “Professional dancer has seldom performed outside of native state,” pg. 28, col. 1:
MINNEAPOLIS (UPI)—Andrew Thompson is a big swan in a small lake.
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Rather than pursue dane stardom in “The Big Apple,” Thompson has chosen to stay in “The Minneapple” and devour the broad repertoire of the Minnesota Dance Theatre ...
 
4 October 1983, Syracuse (NY) Herald-Journal, “Passion for small-town life en route to the Twin Cities,” pg. C-2, col. 5:
“Minneapolis likes to call itself the ‘Mini Apple,’” Cecile said.
   
29 June 1984, Washington (DC) Post, “Diversion: ‘You Can’t Get Theyah From Heeya’” by Susan Morse, pg. B5, cols. 4-5”
Minneapolis
Where else can you get lutefisk (fish marinated in lye) lefse (soft Norwegian flat bread) and “The Minneapple” T-shirt with ice-encrusted apple?
 
30 March 1986, The Observer (UK), “The critics’ choice” by Simon Frith, pg. 29, col. 1:
DOWNTOWN Minneapolis has the feel of a much smaller town—a stolid, friendly place, getting slowly malled. In the tourist shop, among the Mini-Apple tea towels and native American carving, there’s a record stall, music made by artists like Bob Dylan.
 
12 August 1995, Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, “Minneapolis heading for homicide record,” pg. 4A, col. 1:
Minneapolis has a safe, staid image. The city of 368,000 has promoted itself as the “Mini Apple”—the Big Apple’s little sister, with many of the virtues and little of the vice.
 
Urban Dictionary
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is the cultural capital of Minnesota, if Minnesota can be considered to have culture; it is also the only bastion of civilization between Chicago and Seattle. Situated on the Mississippi, its downtown is roughly ten miles west of its smaller counterpart, St. Paul. Total population within the city limits is just under 400,000; there are some 3 million residents living in the greater Twin Cities region. Officially known as the “City of Lakes” (there are 22 within the borders of the city) it is also called the “Mini-Apple” by some residents to indicate a similarity (mostly imagined) to New York City.
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by Blah #5 June 05, 2005
 
Google Books
USA
By Jeff Campbell
Footscray, Vic.: Lonely Planet
2008
Pg. 623:
MINNEAPOLIS
Minneapolis is the artiest town on the prairie, with all the trimmings of progressive prosperity—a cache of coffee shops, organic and ethnic eateries, swank art museums, and enough theaters to be nicknamed Mini-Apple (second only to the Big Apple, New York City).
 
City Dictionary
Minneapple, THe
(noun) Nickname for Minneapolis, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s; meant as a contrast to “The Big Apple”, New York City.
Posted by: badgerinmaine on May 02, 2008
   
City Dictionary
Mini Apple, The
The Mini Apple is a playful nickname for Minneapolis. It’s not quite the Big Apple (New York), but is apple-worthy nonetheless.
Posted by: Anonymous on Jun 18, 2009
 
City-Data Forum
Where did the nickname The Mini Apple come from?
Voyageur
08-27-2010, 10:55 PM
Mini from Minne- and Apple from -apolis and as a whole a juxtaposition against the Big Apple.
 
And Minneapolis is, you know, somewhat smaller than New York!