ALICE
Stumbled upon the phrase "Jam today, not jam tomorrow" and have just looked it up. I thought it was to do with the (quite nasty, really), stereotype of the "working" classes' reluctance to defer gratification - I was having a conversation about this at the time, prompted by a fly-on-the-wall TV show. Anyway, here (in context, of sorts) is the where the phrase originates:
When Alice and the White Queen meet, the Queen asks Alice to be her maid and offers her a salary and “jam every other day”, which Alice rejects. The Queen tries to persuade her:
“It’s very good jam,” said the Queen.
“Well, I don’t want any today, at any rate.”
"You couldn’t have it if you did want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.”
“It must come sometimes to ‘jam today’“, Alice objected.
“No, it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every other day: today isn’t any other day, you know.”
Also, there is a 'class' connection! From "The Phrase Finder", Jam tomorrow:
Meaning: A promise which is never likely to be kept.
Origin: From Lewis Carroll's Though the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, in which Alice is offered 'Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today'. Socialist circles often used to ridicule the capitalist system as offering the same empty promise.
Stumbled upon the phrase "Jam today, not jam tomorrow" and have just looked it up. I thought it was to do with the (quite nasty, really), stereotype of the "working" classes' reluctance to defer gratification - I was having a conversation about this at the time, prompted by a fly-on-the-wall TV show. Anyway, here (in context, of sorts) is the where the phrase originates:
When Alice and the White Queen meet, the Queen asks Alice to be her maid and offers her a salary and “jam every other day”, which Alice rejects. The Queen tries to persuade her:
“It’s very good jam,” said the Queen.
“Well, I don’t want any today, at any rate.”
"You couldn’t have it if you did want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today.”
“It must come sometimes to ‘jam today’“, Alice objected.
“No, it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every other day: today isn’t any other day, you know.”
Also, there is a 'class' connection! From "The Phrase Finder", Jam tomorrow:
Meaning: A promise which is never likely to be kept.
Origin: From Lewis Carroll's Though the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, in which Alice is offered 'Jam tomorrow and jam yesterday - but never jam today'. Socialist circles often used to ridicule the capitalist system as offering the same empty promise.
