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3/13/14

Global Perspective: 'Are we living in interesting times' or is it just 'plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose'

"May you live in interesting times"  -  While purporting to be a blessing, this is in fact a curse. The expression is always used ironically, with the clear implication that 'uninteresting times', of peace and tranquility, are more life-enhancing than interesting ones.

"May you live in interesting times" is also  widely reported as being of ancient Chinese origin but is really neither Chinese nor ancient, being recent and western. It certainly seems to have been intended to sound oriental, in the faux-Chinese 'Confucius he say' style, but that's as near to China as it actually gets.

The saying probably refers back to the days before the second world war when British PM Neville Chamberlain used it to described the state of the world at that time.

Tying the state of world affairs from Chamberlain's days to the present we could  probably quite appropriately use the French saying: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - the more it changes - the more it stays the same.  Or, the fact is - history repeats itself.

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