Jam tomorrow – Eurostyle

I won’t bore cherished scientists with the true, Latin origin of this phrase, which Lewis Carroll parodies in Alice,  but let me draw attention to CS Lewis’s Hymn to Evolution –  which I think should become the EU’s mantra:

Lead us, Evolution, lead us
Up the future’s endless stair:
Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.
For stagnation is despair:
Groping, guessing, yet progressing,
Lead us nobody knows where.
Wrong or justice in the present,
Joy or sorrow, what are they,
While there’s always jam to-morrow,
While we tread the onward way?
Never knowing where we’re going,
We can never go astray.

(to the tune, Mannheim, ‘Lead us, Heavenly Father, lead us’)

Unknown's avatar

Author: Janus

Hey! I'm back ...... and front

8 thoughts on “Jam tomorrow – Eurostyle”

  1. “I won’t bore cherished scientists with the true, Latin origin of this phrase”

    Please do. Seriously. I mean the Alice context is understood, but not the Latin one, unless you are referring to this:
    Caesar ad sum jam forti
    Brutus et erat
    Caesar sic in omnibus
    Brutus sic in at

    The only Latin jam I remember was ‘iam celerime!’

    We had a priest at school who used to chide us in Latin.

    ‘Vae tibi scelestus puer’.
    or
    ‘Sanguinis hades’.

    He was a fine man.

  2. OK then!

    The White Queen offers Alice “jam every other day” as an inducement to work for her:

    “I’m sure I’ll take you with pleasure!” the Queen said. “Two pence a week, and jam every other day.”
    Alice couldn’t help laughing, as she said, “I don’t want you to hire ME – and I don’t care for jam.”
    “It’s very good jam,” said the Queen.
    “Well, I don’t want any TO-DAY, at any rate.”
    “You couldn’t have it if you DID want it,” the Queen said. “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday – but never jam to-day.”
    “It MUST come sometimes to ‘jam to-day’,” Alice objected.
    “No, it can’t,” said the Queen. “It’s jam every OTHER day: to-day isn’t any OTHER day, you know.”
    “I don’t understand you,” said Alice. “It’s dreadfully confusing!”

    The Queen’s rule is a pun on a mnemonic for remembering the distinction between the Latin words “nunc” and “iam”. Both mean “now”, but “nunc” is only used in the present tense, while “iam” is used in the past and future tenses.

  4. My point is that all the so-called solutions to the debt problems in Europe are medium- to long-term. Budgets, audits, fines. Nothing to do with action. Bye bye Greece and Portugal!

  5. ‘The Queen’s rule is a pun on a mnemonic for remembering the distinction between the Latin words “nunc” and “iam”. Both mean “now”, but “nunc” is only used in the present tense, while “iam” is used in the past and future tenses.’ That’s Quite Interesting. Steven Fry would like that.

  6. Pseu :

    ‘The Queen’s rule is a pun on a mnemonic for remembering the distinction between the Latin words “nunc” and “iam”. Both mean “now”, but “nunc” is only used in the present tense, while “iam” is used in the past and future tenses.’ That’s Quite Interesting. Steven Fry would like that.

    Nym, I did say I wouldn’t bore y’all with the origin of it! Serves Sipu right for asking!

  7. Janus, I am glad I did ask. As I said, it puts that whole exchange into perspective. In my relentless struggle for intellectual honesty, it behoves me to confess that I was unaware that ‘jam tomorrow’ originated on the other side of the looking glass.

    I am of course banned from commenting on that particular post, so perhaps I can say here that I believe that honesty in all its forms ought generally to be encouraged!

Add your Comment