Interesting Links for 26-12-2021

[andrewducker]

There are two reasons not to judge people for wanting what they want. This is the other one

(tags:life trauma mylittlepony childhood children )

Clearly the best way of doing jigsaw puzzles

(tags:puzzles awesome funny )

The costume design in Muppet Christmas Carol is far better than it needed to be

(tags:costumes clothing design history muppets Christmas )

New York City is banning natural gas hookups for new buildings

(tags:gas heating newyork globalwarming )

Having fun in a Northern Chinese winter

(tags:China winter video fun )

Where did Britain get half its genes from? France...

(tags:France UK genes genetics )

Huge rise in first Covid jabs as vaccine refuseniks come forward

(tags:vaccine GoodNews UK Pandemic )

Comments

[ingreatwaters]

At this point it's getting on for as old as the original meaning - the OED gives 'Jew refused permission to emigrate to Israel' from 1973, and 'person who refuses to do something, especially as a protest' from 1981.

It also gives an original Russian otkaznik as meaning both 'Jew refused permission to emigrate' and 'person who refuses to do military service', although it's vaguer on the dates there - I'd be surprised if the refuse=rubbish thing also works in Russian, but someone who actually knows Russian might comment on that.

[adrian_turtle]

Interesting! I had no idea about the usage of refusing military service, though I heard about the "refused permission to emigrate" starting in 1977 (when a couple of Russian-speaking little boys turned up in my elementary school.) That other meaning makes the headline a lot more appropriate.