Boston lettuce (1878); Roosevelt's currant jelly (1912)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

BOSTON LETTUCE

   17 November 1878, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 9:
   Those varieties that are not furnished plentifully at this season by the market-gardens are received from the hothouses, as, for instance, "Boston lettuce" raised under glass, which brings the highest price.

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ROOSEVELT'S CURRANT JELLY

   William Safire, an ADS member who writes an "On Language" column for an obscure publication called THE NEW YORK TIMES, discussed "like trying to nail Jell-O to a tree" on 26 January 1986.  Joe E. Decker, a history professor of the University of Tampa (FL), wrote a letter on 9 March 1986, mentioning a Roosevelt letter in 1915.  On 6 April 1986, Safire re-addressed the jelly issue, using again the 1915 date.

   9 April 1912, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 1:
   "Somebody asked me why I did not get an agreement with Colombia.  They might just as well ask me why I do not nail cranberry jelly to the wall.  It would not be my fault or the fault of the nail; it would be the fault of the jelly."

(Of course!  Who nails cranberry jelly to a wall?  Try STRAWBERRY jelly!--ed.)