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It's not just made up, the story is almost a word for word translation of a story that's been circulating for years in Chinese. Of course people have called bul

It's not just made up, the story is almost a word for word translation of a story that's been circulating for years in Chinese. Of course people have called bullshit on it before. If you can read Chinese, you can check the thorough debunking of this myth right here, from someone that actually works in a soap factory: https://www.zhihu.com/question/27132006 https://www.zhihu.com/question/27132006 And that was from 2014.

yorwba 6y ago
And here it is in a comment on a Siemens blog from 2009: https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/embedded-software/2009/06/18/how-to-sell-more-toothpaste/#comment-29 https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/embedded-software/2009/06/18/ho...
shard 6y ago
In this age of the internet, memes get translated pretty quickly. I'm curious whether you found some definitive source that tracked this meme to its origin in a Chinese story.
- Hello71 6y ago
  for what it's worth, I don't think they claimed that it originated in Chinese, merely that it was translated from Chinese at some point. it's possible that it originated not in Chinese, was translated to Chinese at some point, then translated back into English.
  - srtjstjsj 6y ago
    The claim that is was translated from Chinese was invented in this very thread from someone who happened to see a Chinese version.
- Aperocky 6y ago
  > a story that's been circulating for years in Chinese I don't think I claimed that.
  - knite 6y ago
    You literally wrote: "the story is almost a word for word translation of a story that's been circulating for years in Chinese".
    - Aperocky 6y ago
      Is it not? There's a story that has been circulating for years in Chinese. CHECK. This story is almost a word for word translation of that. CHECK. What is wrong with that statement? At the same time, A story that has been circulating for years in Chinese would also almost be a word for word translation of this story.
jdxcode 6y ago
I remember my college professor telling me this story in college. I have a feeling he'd been telling the same story for decades.

yorwba 6y ago

And here it is in a comment on a Siemens blog from 2009: https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/embedded-software/2009/06/18/how-to-sell-more-toothpaste/#comment-29 https://blogs.sw.siemens.com/embedded-software/2009/06/18/ho...

shard 6y ago

In this age of the internet, memes get translated pretty quickly. I'm curious whether you found some definitive source that tracked this meme to its origin in a Chinese story.

Hello71 6y ago
for what it's worth, I don't think they claimed that it originated in Chinese, merely that it was translated from Chinese at some point. it's possible that it originated not in Chinese, was translated to Chinese at some point, then translated back into English.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  The claim that is was translated from Chinese was invented in this very thread from someone who happened to see a Chinese version.
Aperocky 6y ago
> a story that's been circulating for years in Chinese I don't think I claimed that.
- knite 6y ago
  You literally wrote: "the story is almost a word for word translation of a story that's been circulating for years in Chinese".
  - Aperocky 6y ago
    Is it not? There's a story that has been circulating for years in Chinese. CHECK. This story is almost a word for word translation of that. CHECK. What is wrong with that statement? At the same time, A story that has been circulating for years in Chinese would also almost be a word for word translation of this story.

jdxcode 6y ago

I remember my college professor telling me this story in college. I have a feeling he'd been telling the same story for decades.