Like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall

Origin

Imagine the sheer absurdity: a shimmering, quivering blob of Jell-O, utterly devoid of structure, pitted against the blunt force of a hammer and nail. The phrase captures this comical futility perfectly. It's a distinctly American idiom, gaining traction in the mid-20th century, precisely when Jell-O — a gelatin dessert that first hit mass markets in the early 1900s — became a ubiquitous household staple. The image is so potent because it taps into the universal frustration of tackling something utterly unmanageable, something that just won't hold still or take form, making the task not just difficult, but inherently ridiculous.