Someone's Having Fun at the Fortune Cookie Factory

On Friday night we went to a nice dinner at our favorite local Chinese restaurant. The meal is always followed by pineapple cubes and fortune cookies. These days the fortune includes an unpronounceable Chinese phrase with lots of Xs and Zs, and lucky lottery numbers. But the main attraction is still the fortune, usually something suggesting wisdom, cleverness, or immenent luck.

Not this time. In my fortune, it read:

Your pain is breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Huh? This sounds more like a phrase that might be uttered by Darth Vader before he dispatches some particularly hapless underling, or something a pumped-up World Wrestling Federation star might spit at his opponent in the pre-match, on-screen posturing session.

Mommy!