16 points | by surprisetalk 4 hours ago ago
9 comments
1897 seems like an important year.
The Futility Closet website (and, formerly, podcast) is an amazing treasure trove of fascinating facts.
My great grandmother taught me that “nothing doing” meant something similar to “there’s nothing for it”.
I’m in my late thirties and it was still in common use in India, and perhaps specifically among Anglo Indians? But it meant more like “no chance”.
“Can I go out to the movies with my friends?”
“Nothing doing! You have an exam tomorrow”
Or failure to do something.
“I tried to fix it myself but nothing doing”.
Looney Toons / Merry Melodies also bear out this connotation quite well
Funny, does anyone know the history of any of the markers? I'm just curious why this is global thing really.
The plaque is identical in two of the photos (one from Ireland, one from Luxembourg), and the wording is identical in those two plus a third (from Western Australia). That makes me curious.
The one from Míšov, Czech Republic is tribute to the running joke of nonexistent genius Jara Cimmrman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1ra_Cimrman
You don't think this is just a joke that multiple people thought of independently?
Some of them might be in reaction to a local event, or even a worldwide event that had no local impact. But I think they're mostly just jokes.
1897 seems like an important year.
The Futility Closet website (and, formerly, podcast) is an amazing treasure trove of fascinating facts.
My great grandmother taught me that “nothing doing” meant something similar to “there’s nothing for it”.
I’m in my late thirties and it was still in common use in India, and perhaps specifically among Anglo Indians? But it meant more like “no chance”.
“Can I go out to the movies with my friends?”
“Nothing doing! You have an exam tomorrow”
Or failure to do something.
“I tried to fix it myself but nothing doing”.
Looney Toons / Merry Melodies also bear out this connotation quite well
Funny, does anyone know the history of any of the markers? I'm just curious why this is global thing really.
The plaque is identical in two of the photos (one from Ireland, one from Luxembourg), and the wording is identical in those two plus a third (from Western Australia). That makes me curious.
The one from Míšov, Czech Republic is tribute to the running joke of nonexistent genius Jara Cimmrman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1ra_Cimrman
You don't think this is just a joke that multiple people thought of independently?
Some of them might be in reaction to a local event, or even a worldwide event that had no local impact. But I think they're mostly just jokes.