Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | Like nailing jelly to a tree adj. Used to describe a task thought to be impossible, esp. one in which the difficulty arises from poor specification or inherent slipperiness in the problem domain. "Trying to display the `prettiest' arrangement of nodes and arcs that diagrams a given graph is like nailing jelly to a tree, because nobody's sure what `prettiest' means algorithmically." Hacker use of this term may recall mainstream slang originated early in the 20th century by President Theodore Roosevelt. There is a legend that, weary of inconclusive talks with Colombia over the right to dig a canal through its then-province Panama, he remarked, "Negotiating with those pirates is like trying to nail currant jelly to the wall." Roosevelt's government subsequently encouraged the anti-Colombian insurgency that created the nation of Panama. Source: Jargon File. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Crosswords: LIKE NAILING JELLY TO A TREE |
| Specialty definitions using "LIKE NAILING JELLY TO A TREE": nailing jelly. (references) |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4C 49 4B 45 4E 41 49 4C 49 4E 47 4A 45 4C 4C 59 54 4F 41 54 52 45 45 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001100 01001001 01001011 01000101 00100000 01001110 01000001 01001001 01001100 01001001 01001110 01000111 00100000 01001010 01000101 01001100 01001100 01011001 00100000 01010100 01001111 00100000 01000001 00100000 01010100 01010010 01000101 01000101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)L I K E   N A I L I N G   J E L L Y   T O   A   T R E E |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004C 0049 004B 0045 004E 0041 0049 004C 0049 004E 0047 004A 0045 004C 004C 0059 0054 004F 0041 0054 0052 0045 0045 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)464345392483543464348412443946465925449235254523939 |
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Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
