<P> Research by philologist Garson O'Toole shows a probable origin in the mind of Austen Chamberlain's father Joseph Chamberlain dating around the late - 19th and early 20th centuries . Specifically, O'Toole cites the following statement Joseph made during a speech in 1898: </P> <P> I think that you will all agree that we are living in most interesting times . (Hear, hear .) I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest, and, let me say also, new objects for anxiety . (Hear, hear .) (emphasis added) </P> <P> From this it is likely that the Chamberlain family may have inadvertently transmitted a folk etymology by expanding Joseph Chamberlain's use of the concept to refer to some Chinese curse . </P> <P> The phrase is again described as a "Chinese curse" in an article published in Child Study: A Journal of Parent Education in 1943 . </P>

May you live in interesting times chinese curse