March 27, 2009

  • Interesting
    I was wrong. If I hadn't started this topic I might never have found out I was wrong. Some people find it extremely difficult to admit when they are wrong. I've been one of those people most of my life. Today I don't mind so much either being wrong or admitting it. This whole thing was going to be based on the wrong quotation, May you live in interesting times, purported to be an ancient Chinese curse. A speaker I listened to many years ago said it was and I believed him and began quoting it as if I knew. We're funny like that. We believe something to be true and rather than verify its authenticity act as if it is true because we believe it. Can you imagine the amount of B.S. that passes for facts in this infamous age of information? Frightening. The way I always quoted the curse was, May your life be interesting. For some odd reason I decided to look it up. So, I did what most of us do. I Googled it. What did I find? I was wrong. I'm so glad to know I was wrong because now I can stop being wrong and full of balloon juice like so many others who act as if they know something they only believe. Well, about this one thing anyway. I'm still going to act like I know everything else I believe is true. What an idiot!

    Turns out, because I know you didn't click the link I left for you, I'm going to tell you what was there. If you're still reading. Wait! If you're still reading you may already have clicked the link and gotten the information about my wrongness. New title: Your Wrongness. Uses: Yes (No) Your Wrongness. You don't have to address me by my new title but I expect some of you will. Because you're like that. You've got to love the whole idea of the mild Chinese curse and then the stronger curses that follow it.

    1. May you live in interesting times. 
    2. May you come to the attention of those in authority.
    3. May you find what you are looking for.

    It turns out, as with much that is wrong, it may be based in fact but has been warped with time and misuse. The curse may well be based on the Chinese proverb, It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period. Whether you agree or not isn't really the point. The point now is that we act as if we know things that we don't know and that makes us a little weird, wonky and untrustworthy. If you go around telling people things that aren't true as if you knew that they are true you're not adding to the truthfulness and reality of our collective life. That's all I want to say now. Thank you.

Comments (16)

  • being wrong and admiting it is one of the easiest and hardest things to do...for me. And I am wrong A LOT! I can be even more wrong if I am corrected in such a way that I react badly. But I like to think that other humans have similar problems and that makes me feel better and watn to learn better.

  • I enjoyed that link. I liked another part in the text. It is mentioned "the times produce their heroes". I do not know that I believe in heroes, exactly, but I do know that the interesting times in general bring out some of the best in people that I have seen. But, you know me, I am always looking out for the best in people. Or cute new shoes. Great blog.

  • Some people make a career out of being indignantly wrong. They tend to be annoying me as of late.

  • I've lived in 'interesting' times, it was a curse whether it's Chinese or not. My grandmother used to say, "Be careful what you ask for, you just may get it..." which sounds like part two of "May you find what you are looking for." That wasn't always pleasant either.

  • @moniet - 

    It's amazing how getting our own way can be such an unpleasant experience. It's like we don't really know what's good for us.

  • Interesting link, I have to say.  I've heard the saying... but never really thought much about it.  Sometimes I'm like that.   :)

  • I'm strange because I didn't see that as a curse. Well OK maybe I'm just dumb.

  • Hi James !

    Er...I heard you can't trust everything on Wikepedia, either.  heh.  I like that word - wonky.  I think I'll adopt it!  Cool beans.

  • @rideuponthewindagain - 

    I heard the same thing but I didn't need to hear it to know it. You can't trust anything people think, say or do. Unless you can trust it to be spotty.

  • I could go on forever with the things I believed to be true and were not and incorporated them into my thought pattern. Most of them told to me by dear old mom who thrived on the Enquirer newspaper.  I believed everything she said and everything in that paper, after all, it was in black and white and mommy said so...ahh so glad I'm not so young and vulnerable anymore...lmao...It is sometimes a good thing to find out one is wrong, for me anyway.  Your blog, it reminded me of the telephone game when I was a kid we would all sit in a circle and one person would whisper into the person on their right's ear but time it got around the circle it had changed many times it was as you say above, "warped" and also very funny.  Like life I guess.  Thanks for the info...for the record I clicked before I finished the sentence, as soon as I saw the link, click, that is me. Extremely curious and don't like to wait for many things.  I would also never address you with that new title...lol...it is kind of like a shirt that is a "one size fits all" title. have a great day.  Hugs, Sassy

  • I think you are wrong, and here's why. Language usage has to be taken in context with the time; just as "virgin birth" was a figure of speech used to represent a sense of purity, not meant literally, today many of us take that term literally. I suspect a more accurate translation today of the old Chinese curse, that is, one that takes into account usage, nomenclature, and meaning of the times to meaning of words today might be, "Go to hell."

    I think you should admit you were wrong about being wrong. ;)

  • @ItzaRoos - 

    @ItzaRoos - 

    Okay.

  • Nice to see you blogging -- as usual this is very thought provoking. 

    These certainly are 'interesting' times, that's for certain!

    {{hugs}}

  • Good philosopy and I am unanimous in that!

  • I've misquoted that one too. It's also curious when people quote us--how they reword what purportedly was said. Usually never favorably.

  • @Wilshak - 

    Curious is a good word for it Wil Carter. Though I confess I'm no longer curious about being unfavorably misquoted. What I find even more curious is why anyone would quote or misquote me at all!

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