Refine this word faster
Jam tomorrow
Definitions
- 1 Promised benefits that never arrive. idiomatic, uncountable
"The “purposive” man ... does not love his cat, but his cat’s kittens; nor, in truth, the kittens, but only the kittens’ kittens, and so on forward forever to the end of cat-dom. For him jam is not jam unless it is a case of jam to-morrow and never jam to-day."
- 2 The availability of a resource at a future date. broadly, idiomatic, uncountable
"The consumption-possibilities curve illustrates the choice which must be made: more jam today means less jam tomorrow; less jam today means more jam tomorrow."
Etymology
From Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass (1871), where Alice is offered “jam to-morrow and jam yesterday — but never jam to-day”. This is a pun on a mnemonic for the usage of jam, iam in Latin (note i/j conflation in Latin spelling), which means “now”, but only in the future or past tense, not in the present (which is instead nunc).
See also for "jam tomorrow"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: jamtomorrow