The Harvard University Library Study Room Wall Myth

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Since I am not qualified to leave links, please use Google to search for "Harvard university motto nonsense" In November, 2007, a set of 20 rather mundane "mottoes", written in Chinese and entitled " message left on the wall of a study room in the Harvard Library av 4:30 a.m." appeared on Chinese Internet. By the end of that year it has morphed into different forms including ones with titles such as " On the Wall of the Harvard University Library are engraved these twenty mottoes" as well as in outrageously bad English titles such as "Harvard Libraries on the wall made of training". Two "English" versions soon appeared; one was definitely the work of machine translation. The other is worse, containing incomprehensible sentences such as "Now the Halazi's mobility will become tomorrow's tears" and "Not difficult, it nils." (To read the complete set, please Google; harvard library nonsense.) Strangely enough, this trashy English version not only not woke people up to this couldn't be by Harvard, it actually added credence to it being Harvard's. The article began spreading like wild fire. Of course there were people who started screaming bloody nonsense, but they were seldom heard and often had their comments deleted and, in some cases, their IP addresses blacklisted. In early 2008, the book (in Chinese) "Allocutions On The Wall of The Harvard University Library Study Room" came out and soon became a best seller. School Principals used them for "Morning Address to students under the National Flag", tutorial schools put them up as "Good for learning English", etc. In one word: Ubiquitous! Finally, in Jan 2010, the news broke that an English teacher in Shanghai had contacted Harvard and confirmed there was no such thing. But if you think this is the end of the story, think again! The fallacy continues to spread, and even morphed into a new article that says Harvard students are so serious minded they don't chatter in the cafeteria, and wear no fine cloths or make-up! The story does not end there. This nonsense has infected Korea, where it comes in the title "Some words of knowledge from the toilet in Harvard"--swear to God, I kid you not. It comes in sets of 26, 27 and 30 mottoes, with one being "One more hour of study, [and] you will have a better husband or wife." Weird or what, Captain Kirk?