letter from home n Something or someone that triggers nostalgia.1939 (1973) FWP Guide MT 138, Cornish (Cousin Jack) miners of earlier days contributed the pasty, or meat pie, to Butte cuisine. They called it “a letter from ‘ome.” 1945 CA Folkl. Qrly. 4.322 CO [Mining terms], Letter from home: Pasty. 1971 Roberts Third Ear np [Black], Letter from home . . 1. a watermelon. 2. another black person in a foreign country. 1978 DARE File Chicago IL, A black woman of about 80, born and reared in Pulaski, Tennessee, when she saw a man in Chicago buy a watermelon, said, “Oh, he has a letter from home.” She said she first heard the expression when she came to Chicago. 1979 NYT Article Letters West [Copper mining expressions], The “letter from ‘ome” was the Cornish Pasty. 1994 Ibid cwCA, If you are in a new or strange place and you see, hear, or taste something that reminds you of your upbringing, you might exclaim, “Isn’t that a letter from home!”