# Fortune Cookie Fortunes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 5, 2007, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784 "2007-01-05T05:52:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/1 "2007-01-05T05:52:27Z")
For my ward’s New Year’s Eve camping trip, I got a few boxes of fortune cookies from the Taegu commissary. The ward’s children loved them. I think that’s because I told them how they’re eaten (crack open first, remove the paper, then eat the cookie) but they didn’t relay that information to the Bishop (poor guy got a mouthful of paper) and also because fortune cookies aren’t a big item in Korea (or China, for that matter). The older kids enjoyed the fortunes too. I had to translate many of them, though. For the next activity, we’re making our own cookies with church-related fortunes in Korean. But the experience of translating them got me to wondering: “How many different fortunes are there for this brand and what are they anyway?” Anyone know? The brand is one of those that provides the “semi-authentic” prepared Chinese foods in the US. I can’t recall the name at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Shai\_tan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Shai\_tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shai_tan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/2 "2007-01-05T09:29:01Z")
Was it the “Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory”? Fortune cookies were invented in California (both San Francisco and LA lay claim) and most continue to be manufactured there I think. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/3 "2007-01-05T13:37:39Z")
As an aside, I like fortune cookies that actually provide something that can be interpreted as a fortune or foretelling of fate or destiny like, “You will meet a new friend.” I hate “description cookies” that say things like, “You are a wonderful person.” ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/4 "2007-01-05T13:50:46Z")
[QUOTE=Bearflag70] As an aside, I like fortune cookies that actually provide something that can be interpreted as a fortune or foretelling of fate or destiny like, “You will meet a new friend.” I hate “description cookies” that say things like, “You are a wonderful person.” [/QUOTE] Well aren’t you? 😛 Anyway, why don’t we have fortune cookies in our Chinese Restaurants? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/5 "2007-01-05T13:52:02Z")
[QUOTE=Shai’tan] Was it the “Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory”? Fortune cookies were invented in California (both San Francisco and LA lay claim) and most continue to be manufactured there I think. [/QUOTE] I’m sure that’s not the name of the brand. Oh, well. I’ll be at the Yongsan Commissary tomorrow and can only hope they have the same in stock. I bought out the entire supply (yep, grand total of four boxes of 12 cookies each) at the Taegu DECA. All I remember is that the brand name is one of those for the Americanized Chinese home cooking kit meals. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/6 "2007-01-05T14:22:07Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] All I remember is that the brand name is one of those for the Americanized Chinese home cooking kit meals. [/QUOTE] La Choy, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/7 "2007-01-05T14:42:00Z")
THAT’S IT! Thanks, **Nawth Chucka**. Now, what’s the full list of the fortunes in those things? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/8 "2007-01-05T15:10:02Z")
Sorry, all my Googling is for naught, cant find a list anywhere. Too bad I couldn’t be more help to the wee’uns. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/9 "2007-01-05T15:45:13Z")
[QUOTE=Bearflag70] I hate “description cookies” that say things like, “You are a wonderful person.” [/QUOTE] Last week I got _“You enjoy culture.”_ Um. Yeah, I do go to the movies and read a book here and there. Thanks for letting me know. And I often don’t read the fortunes.. I eat them whole, cookie and paper together (yes, I’ve already heard “That explains it”, so hold off) in reference to that same funny belief a good friend of mine had in the third grade. ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/10 "2007-01-05T15:48:39Z")
[QUOTE=Bearflag70] As an aside, I like fortune cookies that actually provide something that can be interpreted as a fortune or foretelling of fate or destiny like, “You will meet a new friend.” [/QUOTE] My friend once received a specific warning, something like “Do not travel during the month of August.” It was kinda creepy. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/11 "2007-01-05T15:56:18Z")
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] My friend once received a specific warning, something like “Do not travel during the month of August.” It was kinda creepy. [/QUOTE] Did it come with a color code key? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/12 "2007-01-05T16:55:33Z")
A co-worker got one that said “Sorry, wrong cookie.” That was neat. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/13 "2007-01-05T19:27:08Z")
[QUOTE=Autumn Almanac] My friend once received a specific warning, something like “Do not travel during the month of August.” It was kinda creepy. [/QUOTE] So did he spend all of August in bed, afraid to even go to the loo? Just askin’ ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/14 "2007-01-05T19:29:47Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] A co-worker got one that said “Sorry, wrong cookie.” That was neat. [/QUOTE] Last night I got my best fortune ever- “You always have the right answer, they just ask the wrong questions” I always suspected that was true! ---
**Author:** ![Smooth\_Jack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/15 "2007-01-05T19:34:58Z")
You can get you very own messages through [this place](http://www.fancyfortunecookies.com/index.html). I did it once for a business promotion. It went over pretty well. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/16 "2007-01-05T20:00:43Z")
My weirdest fortune was “Ignore previous cookie.” I have it pinned to my corkboard at my desk, and use it whenever I feel its necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/17 "2007-01-05T20:06:04Z")
My weirdest fortune was “Name the four food groups.” An instruction cookie, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/18 "2007-01-05T20:42:31Z")
Anyone else gotten a blank one? I don’t mean missing, I mean a blank sheet of paper. That was kinda unsettling! We always read ours aloud, and I’ve taken to flipping mine over for the lucky numbers and “reading”: “4 8 15 16 23 42” The first time, it freaked my kid out. Now I just do it to amuse myself. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/19 "2007-01-05T21:05:15Z")
I have always thought it would be great to have some fortune cookies custom-made with negative messages, and secretly sneak them onto people plates as jokes. “You will die cold, lonely and forgotten.” “People laugh at you behind your back.” “You will never be the man your father was.” “Your wife is cheating on you.” ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2007, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784/20 "2007-01-06T00:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=Absolute] “People laugh at you behind your back.” [/QUOTE] This reminds me of a phrase I sometimes hear in my head, from a perfectly serious recording of [the Deteriorata](http://www.commonplacebook.com/culture_and_the_arts/poems/deteriorata.shtm): **You have no right to be here, and whether you can hear it or not, The Universe is laughing behind your back.** [This might be the one (first track)](http://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Hits-National-Lampoon-Belushi/dp/B0002CHIOW/sr=1-1/qid=1168041956/ref=pd_bbs_1/105-8696683-3364420?ie=UTF8&s=music) A friend of mine quite earnestly has a poster of the Desiderata and I have to stop myself from laughing and quoting the above line. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fortune-cookie-fortunes/386784.md?page=2)