14 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
14 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>like nailing jelly to a tree</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../L.html" title="L"/><link rel="previous" href="like-kicking-dead-whales-down-the-beach.html" title="like kicking dead whales down the beach"/><link rel="next" href="line-666.html" title="line 666"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">like nailing jelly to a tree</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="like-kicking-dead-whales-down-the-beach.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">L</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="line-666.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="like-nailing-jelly-to-a-tree"/><dt xmlns="" id="like-nailing-jelly-to-a-tree"><b>like nailing jelly to a tree</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> Used to describe a task thought to be impossible, esp. one in which
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the difficulty arises from poor specification or inherent slipperiness in
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the problem domain. “<span class="quote">Trying to display the ‘prettiest’
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arrangement of nodes and arcs that diagrams a given graph is like nailing
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jelly to a tree, because nobody's sure what ‘prettiest’ means
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algorithmically.</span>”</p><p>Hacker use of this term may recall mainstream slang originated early
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in the 20th century by President Theodore Roosevelt. There is a legend
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that, weary of inconclusive talks with Colombia over the right to dig a
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canal through its then-province Panama, he remarked, “<span class="quote">Negotiating
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with those pirates is like trying to nail currant jelly to the
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wall.</span>” Roosevelt's government subsequently encouraged the
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anti-Colombian insurgency that created the nation of Panama.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="like-kicking-dead-whales-down-the-beach.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../L.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="line-666.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">like kicking dead whales down the beach </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> line 666</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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