[Idiom] Doubts on how to use a couple of idioms with the word "jam".

[Chico3576]

Hello... I'm a new member here and I find this possibility of clearing up our doubts on the English language with an experienced teacher or a native speaker of the language extremely cool.
Well, let's get down to business then. I've been studying some idioms recently with the word "jam" and I got a little unsure along the way as to weather the sentences I created with those idioms are correct.
The idioms are these: "jam tomorrow" and "money for jam."

Just one thing I'd like to make very clear. These doubts have nothing to do with any kind of homework or the like. I'm an English teacher for young children, not a native speaker and on my free time I study English on my own, with the help from books, dictionaries and web sites like this one solely, as I must keep improving my English skills in order to pass some English tests I want to take in the future.


These are the sentences I created: I'm tired of these promises of jam tomorrow she makes.
Politicians are very fond of promises of jam tomorrow.
This talk of moving to Europe is all just jam tomorrow.
Her job provides her with money for jam.
He would like to find a money for jam kind of job.
Working for a congressman is money for jam.


Thank you very much in advance for your kind attention and time spent on giving me a helping hand. I trully appreciated it. Greetings from Brazil
Chico

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello... I'm a new member here and I find this possibility of clearing up our doubts on the English language with an experienced teacher or a native speaker of the language extremely cool.
Well, let's get down to business then. I've been studying some idioms recently with the word "jam" and I got a little unsure along the way as to weather the sentences I created with those idioms are correct.
The idioms are these: "jam tomorrow" and "money for jam."

Just one thing I'd like to make very clear. These doubts have nothing to do with any kind of homework or the like. I'm an English teacher for young children, not a native speaker and on my free time I study English on my own, with the help from books, dictionaries and web sites like this one solely, as I must keep improving my English skills in order to pass some English tests I want to take in the future.


These are the sentences I created: I'm tired of these promises of jam tomorrow she makes.
Politicians are very fond of promises of jam tomorrow.
This talk of moving to Europe is all just jam tomorrow.
Her job provides her with money for jam.
He would like to find a money for jam kind of job.
Working for a congressman is money for jam.


Thank you very much in advance for your kind attention and time spent on giving me a helping hand. I trully appreciated it. Greetings from Brazil
Chico

I'm tired of these promises of jam tomorrow she makes.
Politicians are very fond of promises of jam tomorrow.
In these two, the phrase is correctly used but the sentences are not very natural. Here are a couple of suggestions:
"I'm tired of listening to her promises of jam tomorrow." (Imagine she is the Prime Minister/President.)
"Politicians are always promising jam tomorrow."
If a job is "money for jam", it's very easy and very well paid .

 

[SoothingDave]

be money for jam - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Neither of those are American idioms. I'd never heard of them.

Her job provides her with money for jam.

This seems kind of literal.

 

[bhaisahab]

be money for jam - Idioms - by the Free Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Neither of those are American idioms. I'd never heard of them.



This seems kind of literal.

For an American I suppose it would have to be "money for jelly" and "jelly tomorrow".;-)

 

[SoothingDave]

No, we have both jellies and jams here. But we don't equate them with grand promises or a cushy job.

 

[BobSmith]

I'm tired of these promises of jam tomorrow she makes.

[AmE - not a teacher]

Wow, none of these make any sense at all! I thought I was going crazy there for a second.

 

[Tullia]

They're both common enough here in the UK, although perhaps a little oldfashioned nowadays. "Jam tomorrow" represents a promise of something in the future to sweeten the idea of something less pleasant *now*, but the understanding is that the "jam" is extremely unlikely ever to arrive.

It apparently gained popularity as a phrase after being used by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, (see Jam tomorrow - encyclopedia article about Jam tomorrow.) and I too was taught it in school as a way to remember the Latin nunc/iam difference, but honestly I don't know if Carroll coined it or simply popularized it.

Another way of saying "money for jam" that the AmE users might be more familiar with is "money for old rope".

 

[SoothingDave]

They're both common enough here in the UK, although perhaps a little oldfashioned nowadays. "Jam tomorrow" represents a promise of something in the future to sweeten the idea of something less pleasant *now*, but the understanding is that the "jam" is extremely unlikely ever to arrive.

It apparently gained popularity as a phrase after being used by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, (see Jam tomorrow - encyclopedia article about Jam tomorrow.) and I too was taught it in school as a way to remember the Latin nunc/iam difference, but honestly I don't know if Carroll coined it or simply popularized it.

Another way of saying "money for jam" that the AmE users might be more familiar with is "money for old rope".

Don't know that one either. Do know "money for nothing, chicks for free."

 

[Tullia]

Don't know that one either. Do know "money for nothing, chicks for free."

And that's one I haven't heard of! This is an interesting thread

 

[Chico3576]

[AmE - not a teacher]

Wow, none of these make any sense at all! I thought I was going crazy there for a second.

Well, seems like these are idioms originated and used in the UK only. I found them in the entry for "jam" in my Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and the dictionary makes no mention whether they are used in the US as well. I thought that they were common in the US too, as they were coined from the book Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, ​by Lewis Carrol.

 

[SoothingDave]

And that's one I haven't heard of! This is an interesting thread

Money for Nothing (song) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's actually from a song from a British band, one of the more famous videos from the early MTV era.

 

[Chico3576]

SoothingDave, I read that Wikipedia article yesterday when I was squeezing my brain to fully understand these idioms I've put forward for discussion on this thread.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, as usual, I've learnt something new on here. Before I'd finished reading all the comments, I had been planning to post something along the lines of "These must be AmE idioms because I've never heard either of them"! However, since they don't appear to be common in AmE but some of my BrE-speaking compatriots know them, I'll have to concede that they're BrE.

"Money for old rope" is one I use regularly, and I can't think of any alternative wording for the "jam tomorrow" one, but I've certainly never heard it before today.

 

[Barb_D]

Huh. Another thread that has taught me something about my own language. I was totally puzzled by all of them (except the song lyric). I can't even think of an American equivalent to these.

 

[BobSmith]

[AmE - not a teacher]

I was not familiar with Money for old rope - Idiom Definition - UsingEnglish.com. The only idioms I can think of that might be similar are

It’s nice work if you can get it
Low hanging fruit

which, of course, do not have the same meaning. I googled "money" idioms and found these ones, that are semi-related:

Easy money
Money-maker
License to print money