Nothing Doing

Discussion (12 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

swader999•about 1 hour ago

I need this for some past companies I've worked at.

rzzzt•about 2 hours ago

1897 seems like an important year.

TRiG_Ireland•about 3 hours ago

The Futility Closet website (and, formerly, podcast) is an amazing treasure trove of fascinating facts.

tolugenius•about 3 hours ago

Funny, does anyone know the history of any of the markers? I'm just curious why this is global thing really.

LahvacCz•about 3 hours ago

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

cryzinger•about 1 hour ago

The bust (if you even can call it that...) pictured in the article is terrifying!

Photogrammaton•about 2 hours ago

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.

wccrawford•about 3 hours ago

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.

clickety_clack•about 1 hour ago

Was it in a Monty python sketch or something?

bckr•about 3 hours ago

My great grandmother taught me that “nothing doing” meant something similar to “there’s nothing for it”.

arjie•about 3 hours ago

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”.

HappMacDonald•about 2 hours ago

Looney Toons / Merry Melodies also bear out this connotation quite well

Nothing Doing

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion (12 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews