Andy BaioJan 28, 2025
[UPDATE: Mystery solved!] This is such a bizarre iOS/Wikipedia mystery! I can reproduce it on my own iPhone and I'm totally stumped. I searched the Wikipedia edit history and the "scrambled egg" phrase is nowhere to be found. https://pdx.social/@neven/113907136478123964
Neven Mrgan (@[email protected])

Attached: 1 image I have stumbled upon the strangest Internet mystery. Looking for the origin of the phrase "a rising tide lifts all boats," Apple's search suggestion was… "a scrambled egg makes all happy"??? This phrase can't be found anywhere on the web. It's not part of that Wikipedia page, or anywhere in its edit history. No one has probably ever said this (why would they*). And yet it will be suggested by Apple if you just start searching for "a rising". *It makes me personally happy, sure—but still.

pdx.social
Show threadAndy Baio
Figured it out! Apple is pulling the Wikipedia data for its Safari suggestions from the Wikidata datastore instead of Wikipedia itself. On December 4, 2019, someone vandalized the Wikidata entry for "A rising tide" to say "a scrambled egg makes all happy" and it stayed there until February 24, 2024. https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Q4660966&action=history
Revision history of "A rising tide lift all the boats" (Q4660966) - Wikidata

Jan 28, 2025 at 5:46pmWeb
Show threadallisonJan 28, 2025
@andybaio @troublewithwords as much as i respect and rely on the data commons as a collective project of humanity... this is some pretty funny vandalism
Show threadallisonJan 28, 2025
@andybaio @troublewithwords unless it turns out to be like a 4chan thing or something (likely), in which case i retract my praise
Show threadCraig HockenberryJan 28, 2025
@andybaio So this was a localization hack (English -> English)? Pretty clever!
Show threadAndy BaioJan 28, 2025
@chockenberry In part, though they also changed the entry name. The exploit here is that Apple is using WikiData for important information, which has a fraction of the eyes on it that Wikipedia does. Vandalism this obvious wouldn’t go unnoticed for four years on Wikipedia.
Show threadCraig HockenberryJan 29, 2025
@andybaio I've seen my fair share of the Internet, but I had no idea that WikiData existed prior to today. It's surprising that data is replicated & divergent here.
Show threadChancerubbageJan 29, 2025

@chockenberry @andybaio

I’ve linked there from Wikipedia before. They use it for straight ahead lists without copy, and sometimes Wiktionary entries. Unexpanded knowledge

Show threadzıəs uɐɟəʇs ✪Jan 28, 2025
@andybaio @gruber i once wondered where Siri got some of its data from and back then, also found out it was from WikiData.
Show threadWillJan 28, 2025
@andybaio as a proud Wikidata editor of absolutely no privilege or standing, I will say that the anti vandalism efforts are a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of edits made daily.