Why is it Chinese?

[TomKane]

Hi,

Do you know why Chinese Whispers are Chinese? Or why a Chinese burn is Chinese? Anyone know the origin of either term?

Thanks,

 

[SantaMufasa]

Elanor,

Dublin Irish Twins are two children born to the same mother in the same calendar year! We have set of those...are you lucky enough to be half of a set of Dublin Irish Twins?

Best regards and to you mum, bless her heart !

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)

http://www.dasages.com

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[CrystalStart]

Yeah, right...and in England tea with lemon called 'Russian Tea'
I am not positive of Russia being mother of lemons' regarding coldness.

 

[Stella740pl]

Do lemons have to be necessarily natively grown, or they are allowed to be imported (sometimes from warmer parts of the former Soviet Union)?

Even though I haven't heard of the term 'Russian Tea', I can testify that in Russia and Ukraine tea is one of the favorite beverages, and usually served without milk (tea with milk and sugar most often considered 'a children's drink'). Some people prefer with lemon, some not; with or without sugar, or with a cube of pressed sugar or a piece of hard candy on the side. Often served also with home-made fruit preserves (hey, it's not that cold, they have summers, too; some very nice fruit and berries do grow there).

 

[TheRambler]

Here is another explanation for "Chinese fire drill".

The expression 'Chinese fire drill' supposedly derives from a true naval incident in the early 1900's involving a British ship, with Chinese crew: instructions were given by the British officers to practice a fire drill where crew members on the starboard side had to draw up water, run with it to engine room, douse the 'fire', at which other crew members (to prevent flooding) would pump out the spent water, carry it away and throw it over the port side. After initially going to plan, fuelled by frantic enthusiasm as one side tried to keep pace with the other, the drill descended into chaos, ending with all crew members drawing up water from the starboard side, running with it across the ship, entirely by-passing the engine room, and throwing the un-used water straight over the port side.

There is also a derivations test at the end, which I miserably failed.

 

[elanor]

Hey SantaMufasa!
No Dublin in me, more's the pity! My prolific mother's family (and she was one of 14 kids herself) came from Kerry and my dad's family ran away from Armagh! Good luck with your Irish twins!
Thanks!
Elanor

 

[chipperMDW]

Speaking of Ireland and Indian Burns, isn't the Irish term "Crocodile Burn" or something like that?

 

[tsdragon]

My ex-wife discovered that her genealogy goes back to Ireland, so she's visited there several times, and loves it. She keeps telling me that I should move there. No, not to get rid of me, I think she wants a free place to stay when she visits (yes, we get along reasonably well now that we don't live together). What's the market for a PERL/PHP/HTML/CSS/Javascript/VB/ASP/... programmer in Ireland?


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[tsdragon]

I've never heard of the term "Chinese Whisper", although I've heard of the game as "Grapevine". Same for "Chinese Burn" as "Indian Burn". I do know the terms "Chinese Auction" and "Chinese Fire Drill". In both of those cases the key point seems to be confusion, or, as Tom Lehrer said, "Full of sound and fury, and signifying - nothing. In any case, I believe them term is derogatory to the Chinese. I'll have to purge those terms from my vocabulary and substitute something more PC. Any suggestions?


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[KenCunningham]

Tom Lehrer said that? Before Shakespeare then?

 

[tsdragon]

I doubt he said it first. I just happen to remember a lot more Tom Lehrer lyrics than Shakespearean couplets.

(In fact, in high school I had every Tom Lehrer lyric memorized, including The Elements. I can still remember most of them.)


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Tom Lehrer ==> now there's a dirty old man - opps - that's the wizard of Oz.



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[SilentAiche]

I'll have to purge those terms from my vocabulary and substitute something more PC. Any suggestions?

At least for "Chinese Fire Drill": [blue]a bunch of stupid teenagers running around their car at a stoplight to get into a different seat while giggling like idiots.[/blue]

A little wordy, I know. I'll work on it.

I kinda miss those days...

Tim



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[tsdragon]

My definition of a Chinese Fire Drill was a little more generic than that: Any situation where people are running around aimlessly and accomplishing nothing. I guess "snafu" would be close.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.