I remember reading about someone's research into that particular saying, and it seems that, although one can find references to this "chinese curse" throughout most of the 20th century in the US, there's absolutely no sign of it in actual Chinese literature... and no solid indication of where it came from. The researcher found some similarity to old Scottish sayings, though...
Of course, wherever it came from, even if it was made up in the early 20th century to sound wise and inscrutable (which seems likely), it's still a good saying. :)
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asenathwaite
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Date: 2004-04-29 10:40 am (UTC)Of course, wherever it came from, even if it was made up in the early 20th century to sound wise and inscrutable (which seems likely), it's still a good saying. :)