Origins of Expressions

  Like Nailing Jelly to a Tree  Watch this on YouTube here - Tree Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Like Nailing Jelly to a Tree means to deal with a very difficult problem or a problem that cannot be solved. a foolish or worthless attempt at something.  “Ha, that will be like nailing Jelly to a tree.” In America they say "to nail jello to a tree", Jell-O  being a gelatin dessert that comes in fruit flavors. Origin: The origins of both these phrases actually lie in politics. Theodore Roosevelt, in 1915 wrote a letter to William Roscoe Thayer talking about the difficulty he was having negotiating with Columbia regarding the Panama Canal, it said: 'You could no more make an agreement with them than you could nail currant jelly to a wall - and the failure to nail currant jelly to a wall is not due to the nail; it is due to the currant jelly.' Example: Today we do not hear this expression as much, but if you did hear it, it would mean t...

  Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees  Watch this on YouTube here - Tree Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees means money is a limited resource and is not easily acquired, so it shouldn’t be spent in a careless manner. "Money doesn't grow on trees ya' know" Origin: So where does this phrase come from? Well, it is from the idea, that leaves are abundant, trees are full of them. So, if someone runs out of cash, they cannot simply go out to their backyard and pull dollar bills off the branches of a tree. No, money is not acquired so easily; a person has to work hard for it. The first time this is in writing is in 1891 in the Statesville Landmark newspaper it reads: “Money doesn’t grow on trees here yet.” Example: Today we still use this phrase to say that you have to work hard to get money, you can’t just go outside and pick it off the trees. An example sentence is: “I know you want a new bike, but I can’t afford it right now, Money doesn’t grow on tr...

  Barking Up the Wrong Tree  Watch this on YouTube here - Tree Video - YouTube Video Meaning: Barking Up the Wrong Tree means Making a mistake or a false assumption about something, to pursuing the wrong course of action “Um, you’re barking up the wrong tree.” Origin: This phrase started out due to dogs barking up into the trees when they believe they have chased a prey up a tree, like a squirrel, but the squirrel escaped by leaping from one tree to another. The dog does not know the squirrel is not there, so he keeps barking.   The first time this phrase was printed was in James Kirke Paulding's  Westward Ho! , 1832 it reads: "Here he made a note in his book, and I begun to smoke him for one of those fellows that drive a sort of a trade of making books about old Kentuck and the western country: so I thought I'd set him barking up the wrong tree a little, and I told him some stories that were enough to set the Mississippi a-fire; but he put them all down i...