Nothing Doing

6 comments

• swader999 14 hours ago
  I need this for some past companies I've worked at.
• layer8 12 hours ago
  It’s curious how there seem to be so few combinations of place and time where nothing important happened.
• tolugenius 15 hours ago
  Funny, does anyone know the history of any of the markers? I'm just curious why this is global thing really.
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  • LahvacCz 15 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

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    • cryzinger 14 hours ago
      The bust (if you even can call it that...) pictured in the article is terrifying!
  • Photogrammaton 14 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 15 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 13 hours ago
    Was it in a Monty python sketch or something?
• TRiG_Ireland 15 hours ago
  The Futility Closet website (and, formerly, podcast) is an amazing treasure trove of fascinating facts.
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  • alucardo 9 hours ago
    Yes! and thank you for making me remember its existence
• bckr 15 hours ago
  My great grandmother taught me that “nothing doing” meant something similar to “there’s nothing for it”.
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  • arjie 15 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”.

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    • HappMacDonald 14 hours ago
      Looney Toons / Merry Melodies also bear out this connotation quite well
• rzzzt 15 hours ago
  1897 seems like an important year.