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posted by dsk on November 24th, 2008 at 4:51PM
I think the quote is "May you live in interesting times". I think the idea is that 'interesting' times are times of turmoil, war or more generally, change (which is almost always painful). So as Dennis says, it is a curse (or sounds like it).
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posted by Vina on November 24th, 2008 at 6:51PM
I've never heard of this proverb/curse in Chinese. In fact, a lot of Chinese people never heard of it. So, I just stuck to what my boss told me to look into: 'we live in interesting times', and told him that it meant 'the right person at the right time'. He's going to use that in his bear market presentation. Wish me luck! I've prepared for my defense, already (I got 2 strong sources to back me up)
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posted by dsk on November 24th, 2008 at 7:23PM
>I've never heard of this proverb/curse in Chinese.
You're right. Wikipedia says the saying goes back to '30s era Britain when it was incorrectly attributed to an old Chinese saying by Sir Austen Chamberlain.
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posted by dennisn on November 24th, 2008 at 9:31PM
Vina--stop the presentation and the further corruption of history!
(Dsk, which Wikipedia article?)
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