Why do many Americans say “Confucius say”?
The trend can be precisely dated. In the late 1930s, a newspaper columnist named Walter Winchell began attributing some satirical statements to Confucius, and soon the device was picked up by radio hosts like Jack Benny. From there it spread rapidly. A story from a February 1940 edition of Life magazine tells us, “In every city and village from coast to coast last week, Americans were stopping other Americans and chortling, ‘You know what Confucius say?'”
Many major newspapers began to carry a “Confucius say” column with content solicited from readers.
As far as we know this was the first time Confucius was introduced into mass American culture. This first impression seems to have stuck, so that “Confucius say,” is ubiquitous even today.