When I was much younger, a movie staring Dennis Quaid aired called Big Easy. That was the first time that I knew a city besides New York City had a nickname. I peppered my parents with questions as to why New Orleans had that alias. They hemmed and hawed, and sort of answered the question. 

Decades later, while living in the Big Easy, I learned the origin of the nickname. From CrescentCity.com is the easiest place to find the information, although I heard this from a trusted tour guide that trolls the streets of the Garden District.

This is an euphemism for New Orleans, like the “Crescent City,” that is attributed to Betty Guillaud, a gossip columnist for the Times Picayune, in the ’70s as a term of endearment and an answer to the then I Love New York City hype. If it’s the “Big Apple” then New Orleans is the “Big Easy,” where everything is slower, simpler and easy-going.

Yeah, we can go slower down in hot and humid NOLA (term favorited by Harry Connick, Jr), but that doesn’t mean that it’s boring. It’s anything but. From natives whose families have been there for generations to transplants who embrace the lifestyle. I’ve got one of each in Big Bad Easy. I hope you order your copy on August 9th, when it is released by The Wild Rose Press exclusively on Amazon.com.