There’s an old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times,” that became a running joke in our family. Bill and I would ask each other, “Well, are you having an interesting time yet?”

Wikipedia points out that The Yale Book of Quotations states “No authentic Chinese saying to this effect has ever been found.” I present this example because the book is a bestseller by a prominent person, and not because hypercriticism of Clinton is warranted. References to this “old Chinese curse” are ubiquitous and individuals of every political stripe have mentioned this supposed curse.

The Wikipedia entry for the phrase ”May you live in interesting times” contains some fascinating information about its origin. Well maybe it is not too fascinating. OK, I am rather biased because I added some of the key information. I added the data from the Yale Book of Quotations as well as the quotation tracing the phrase back to the British Prime Minister’s brother, Austen Chamberlain.

Wikipedian “editors” have been welcoming and complimentary so far. They encouraged me to add information that I placed on the “discussion” page directly into the main article. In fact dilatoriness resulted in an insistence that I change the main article. “Be Bold”, I was told. Note the entry might be completely different when you read this comment, and my handiwork might have been overwritten since Wikipedia is the modern palimpsest.

Score one for distributed fact-checking.