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Topic: Chinese fire drill

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	The Mavens' Word of the Day
		Both of these stem from the idea of a fire drill being confused and panicked.
		The use of Chinese to mean 'clumsy; inferior' may stem from these phrases, although there were earlier isolated examples which were based on ideas of the inferiority of the Chinese.
		The car-prank sense is first attested in print in the early 1970s, but a number of people have reported its use in the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, so it is likely that the phrase was current at the time, but simply was not written down that early.
	www.randomhouse.com /wotd/index.pperl?date=19961008 (277 words)

	Wordwizard Clubhouse - Chinese parliament
		A "chinese wall" is an impenetrable barrier to conversation.
		Chinese Fire Drill is of the 20th century and implies an operation having extreme confusion, chaos, disorganization, bedlam.
		While most modern educated Chinese have Standard Mandarin as at least a "second dialect", it is not hard to imagine a group of representatives from different provinces having a hard time getting anywhere in an oral forum.
	www.wordwizard.com /ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17790 (318 words)

	Blue Moons, Chinese Fire Drill, Cocktail, Galoot, Whazzat thing?, Scotious and Stocious.
		"Chinese fire drill" seems to be one of the few (fortunately) of these phrases that have survived in popular usage.
		The earliest written citation for "Chinese fire drill" reported by the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang dates only to 1952, although William Safire is quoted as maintaining that it was commonly heard in Brooklyn just after World War I. This is not necessarily, as it would seem, a contradiction.
		In any case, "Chinese fire drill," though today almost always used without malice, is indeed an insult to those of Chinese ancestry, and deserves to be permanently retired.
	www.word-detective.com /back-x.html (1676 words)

	Re: Chinese Fire Drill
		It came from an naval incident where a ship officered by the British and crewed by the Chinese set up a fire drill for fire in the engine room.
		In the event of a fire the crew was to draw water from the starboard side, take to the engine room and throw it on the fire.
		When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan then it got confused.The crew began drawing the water from the staroard side and runing over to the port side and throwing the water over, by-passing the the engine room completely.
	www.phrases.org.uk /bulletin_board/17/messages/1253.html (223 words)

	Liberator \| Volume 2, Issue 1
		New Age Fire Drill: All the passengers in the car meditate on their crystals, and agree that exiting the vehicle would be a waste of bio-energy.
		Atheist Fire Drill: All the passengers refuse to believe the doors exist, and stay where they are.
		Feminist Fire Drill: All the passengers see the car as a tangible expression of male dominance, get out of their seats, and kick the vehicle to pieces.
	www.flakmag.com /jim/liberator/020102.html (415 words)

	Daytona Harley-Davidson Drill Team
		The Drill Team makes itself available for a variety of functions, including charity runs to benefit the needy, nursing home and convalescent facilities, parades, conferences, rallies and conventions - both within the motorcycle enthusiast community, as well as the general public.
		Members of the Drill Team have been chosen because of their desire to enhance the image of motorcycling - to promote safe riding, rider skills, and good will for the sponsoring dealer, Daytona Harley-Davidson.
		She rides a red 1990 FXR and points out, "It was my husband’s and we had it lowered so I could ride it." Carol is a special education teacher and has been in the educational field for 18 years.
	www.daytonachamber.com /bikeweek/photos/drill.htm (1219 words)

	Chinese Fire Drill an article from archives of The Digerati Peninsula
		I was reading an interview of James Howard Kunstler over at The Morning News (which was far less interesting than I anticipated) when I came across a phrase that sounded vaguely familiar, and to which I didn’t know the exat mean of, so I went to look it up.
		JHK: A Chinese fire drill is a stunt that fraternity guys used to do—you pull up to a red light in a car, everybody in the car gets out and runs around the car four times and gets back into the car and drives away.
		When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan then it got confused.
	www.thedigeratipeninsula.org.uk /archive/2005/08/27/chinese-fire-drill (702 words)

	§ The Big Fire
		When we arrived, the fire, which had started at the north end of the building, was burning a third of the way down towards the other end and just breaking through the roof at the north end.
		The fire had worked its way down the building; the north end wasn't much more than an oversized camp fire; the middle section of the roof had just fallen; and the far southern end was in full flame when we heard an approaching siren and the high-pitched whine of a powerful engine.
		The fire was allowed to burn out on its own, watched by the base fire crew, the Crash Crew and a very dejected bunch of Chinese firemen.
	www-personal.umich.edu /~gwms/ega/thebigfire.shtml (1121 words)

	"Chinese" Water Torture (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		'Chinese' is one of those all-purpose English pejoratives in which foreign is equated with weird.
		The other sense is 'exotic, mysterious, or devious,' as in Chinese handcuffs (the finger restraints that bind more tightly the harder you try to pull your fingers out), Chinese checkers (the game is said to have been invented in the latter 19th century by an Englishman), and of course the Chinese water torture.
		Chinese = confused is thought to have originated in Britain around World War I; Chinese = exotic/devious is perhaps a little older.
	www.geocities.com /cliffhangee/watertorture.html (442 words)

	Nathan & Sara Tolbert
		It began with a loud buzzer throughout the kindergarten at which point all the children were rushed to their classroom bathrooms to retrieve their own personal wet hand towels to cover their mouths and noses.
		We rushed downstairs where I was surprised to find a real fire blazing surrounded by the school cooks, the school security guard, and the school bus driver in flood boots.
		It turns out the fire was just part of the routine fire drill and the school passed with flying colors.
	www.tolberts.net /updates.php?toShow=u39 (194 words)

	Owain F Carter : Chinese Fire Drill (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		One joke that we did in residence was the Chinese Fire Drill, I don't quite know why it is called that.
		The victim is on the pot in the dorm washroom.
		Yell fire as everyone tosses the water into the stall.
	homepages.tesco.net /~scotsnet/o.f.carter/fun/fun229.htm (166 words)

	ChiFiDrill (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		During those fateful Vietnam war years, according to Karnow, China dealt cleverly with Russia and the United States "...without diluting their basic ideological belief in the inevitability of World revolution- a belief that corresponded to their conviction that they were the repository of absolute ‘virtue’"(9).
		Both Taiwanese and Chinese viewers could hardly miss the message...soldiers pointedly proclaiming their willingness to die if necessary to prevent Taiwan from asserting independence (48)." Taiwan is an American ally in jeopardy.
		Perhaps the Chinese Logistics experts are interested in "supplying distant forces" because they will soon choose to move their armies to someplace "distant" like well beyond their borders.(41).
	www.unm.edu /~jonswear/ChiFiDrill.html (2456 words)

	The Post-Xanga Times: July 2003 Archives
		The fire was quickly put out soon after the 911 call, thanks to my grandmother's smattering of flour inside the oven.
		However, it was too late for a quiet ending to this story, as this fire attracted the attention of the neighbors and apparently all of the police and fire department in town.
		Fire department, Police, and Family shared in the merriment that was the smelly, fl oven.
	dwoo.comeuppance.org /archives/2003_07.html (565 words)

	Re: "Chinese Auction" etc
		: : : : : as to wether "chinese fire drill" is derogatory I don't know, but it is used to indicate a mad dash for the exits.
		: Putting the word "Chinese" in a description is defining someone by a label or a confining parameter which reinforces the stereotype of anything "Chinese" as being odd and maybe a bit off kilter.
		The Chinese language, alphabet, and culture really are different from ours, but that doesn't make it worse, necessarily, and as long as we understand that we shouldn't have a problem.
	www.phrases.org.uk /bulletin_board/39/messages/739.html (539 words)

	you ask, we lie
		• The fellow who, during a chinese fire drill, tripped and fell through a sewer grate (he was whisper-thin) — by the time his friends fished him out nearly an hour later, he had missed an important appointment to see about a job.
		• The small baby who took part in a chinese fire drill and ended up in a seat other than his car-seat — in the shotgun seat, actually — and who, as a result, kept slipping out of his seat and into the floorboards whenever the car slowed (his diaper was plasticky and slick).
		• The dog who tripped during a chinese fire drill and, tragically, was the object of much ridicule and scorn and even cuffs on the muzzle from an abusive owner.
	www.wearescientists.com /advicearchive/2002_11_22_advice.html (525 words)

	Re: Chinese Fire Drill (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		In Reply to: Chinese Fire Drill posted by Chris on December 16, 2002
		"Chinese fire drill" describes a situation where people are rushing around chaotically.
		It's one of many expressions based on the idea that people of other races than the speaker are inferior.
	www.phrases.org.uk /bulletin_board/17/messages/1022.html (102 words)

	CD Baby: GRANT LANGSTON: Chinese Fire Drill - from shycloud
		Grant Langston's second solo release, Chinese Fire Drill is the follow-up to his 2000 LP All This and Pecan Pie.
		But whereas All This and Pecan Pie was a lavish project, using a host of players and participants from established acts like Sheryl Crow and The Wallflowers, Chinese Fire Drill takes a different path.
		Much of Chinese Fire Drill was done in a project studio in LA's San Fernando Valley, with Grant playing and singing as many of the parts as possible.
	www.cdbaby.com /cd/langston2/from/shycloud (293 words)

	BBC NEWS \| World \| Asia-Pacific \| 130-year-old Chinese fire put out
		A fire that broke out more than 100 years ago at a Chinese coalfield has finally been extinguished, reports say.
		While ablaze, the fire burned up an estimated 1.8m tons of coal every year, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.
		Hou Xuecheng, head of the Xinjiang Coalfield Firefighting Project Office, said the Liuhuanggou fire was the largest among eight major coalfield fire areas in Xinjiang.
	news.bbc.co.uk /1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3978329.stm (185 words)

	Costa Rican Chinese Fire Drill
		The last time our friend O´Neill Williams from O´Neill Outdoors TV show was down, we raised 17 fish and caught four sets of doubles before noon.
		That is a Costa Rican Chinese Fire Drill for sure, but with a little planning on the part of the crew and anglers, "Multiple Hook-Ups" can often happen.
		The first thing to do is communicate with your crew and it is their job to communicate with you.
	www.theculturedtraveler.com /Archives/JAN2004/Fishing_Costa_Rica.htm (928 words)

	Gullible's Travels: Chinese Fire Drill
		As John and I approached Cambridge Circus I remarked that it was at that very set of red traffic lights I had seen two lads jump out, run round and round the car, then jump back in (at random) when the lights turned green.
		Andrea revealed that not only was it a well known American custom but that she herself had indulged.
		Fined for improper pedestrian use of the highway - well I guess she was on foot at the time.
	www.zoo.co.uk /~mmenterprises/blog/2006/04/chinese-fire-drill.htm (271 words)

	StealthBadger.net » Blog Archive » Chinese Fire Drill, Musical Chairs or Food Fight?
		A popular nonsense prank in the 50’s was the Chinese Fire Drill, where a car full of teenagers would stop in the middle of traffic, then everyone would get out of the car, run around it for a few seconds, then jump back in.
		So, my prediction for the midterm elections is this: musical chairs in execution, food fight in style, and chinese fire drill in the largest part of its effect.
		How effective that remaining small part will be what makes or breaks the country for the next twenty years, especially in those unaddressed areas of increasing fundamentalism and militarism in our society.
	www.stealthbadger.net /log/index.php/2006/10/07/chinese-fire-drill-musical-chairs-or-food-fight (952 words)

	The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Entertainment (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		To engage in a Chinese Fire Drill, one simply stops the car at a stoplight or street sign, whereupon everyone in the car leaps out and runs completely around the car before getting back in and driving off.
		This is done for the sole purpose of confounding everyone else in the area, although by now anyone who sees you do it knows what it really is, i.e.
		I've participated in them, back in the day, although even while I was dashing wildly around the car I was wondering what this had to do with fire safety, and whether we shouldn't be calling it 'Indigenous Asian People Fire Drill' or something.
	www.news-journalonline.com /column/247/03SceneTWEN081303.htm (848 words)

	TBIFOC: Chinese Fire Drill (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Japan reports a Chinese sub is on fire.
		The vessel is believed to be of the so-called Ming class hunter-killers submarines, which are 76-meters long and normally carry a crew of about 60.
		I bet they don't have a drill for a sub on fire, eh.
	isfullofcrap.com /oldcrap/2005/05/chinese_fire_dr.html (147 words)

	flyingpenguin » Blog Archives » British Navy Fire Drill
		Perhaps “British Navy Fire Drill” did not have the same ring to it, but it seems to be a more accurate description of the event.
		After all, wasn’t the reason for the Chinese being employed on the ships their experience and talent for seafaring that Europeans had always envied and emulated, combined with their willingness to work in high-risk endeavors?
		Reminds me of the “Chinaman’s minute” or “Chinaman’s chance” which were apparently coined by those who employed the Chinese for building railroads but did not mind leaving them exposed to high risk and physical harm from dynamite.
	davi.poetry.org /blog/?p=454 (456 words)

	Diary of a Martial Arts Diva - Whither Chinese Fire Drills - JournalHome.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		When stopped at a stoplight yesterday, I began to think about Chinese fire drills.
		It seems the drills are attributed to the 70s but have been reported going back to the 40s.
		Furthermore, I did not come up with the name Chinese Fire Drills.
	www.journalhome.com /Fightingfemale/19919 (209 words)

	www.myspace.com/cfd
		Chinese Fire Drill and Cobalt Media (view more)
		Chinese Fire Drill is a four piece band that features members of Burning Bridges, The PoP Rivets, Brass 5 & Gypsy Joe.
		I have to say, I have never been to a local show that someone actually threw their panties at someone on stage..
	www.myspace.com /cfd (554 words)

	Top Tickets - Roanoke.com (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Chinese Fire Drill and members of the TrueNoke crew play Awful Arthur's on Wednesday.
		Comprised of members of Brass 5, Burning Bridges, Gypsy Joe and the Pop Rivets, CFD's energetic live show is something to behold.
		As their name implies, they switch instruments frequently and perform a mix of punk/ska/alt rock originals and covers with enough over-the-top enthusiasm to make you wonder if they all just mutually agreed to skip a Ritalin dosage.
	www.roanoke.com /entertainment/insideout/music/wb/xp-80466 (509 words)

	Chinese Fire Drill (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		One joke that we did in residence was the Chinese Fire Drill,
		the fire as well as the victim get very wet.
		This one fellow in the house was hit a number of times and took to relieving
	whiskeytango.blogster.com /chinese_fire_drill.html (177 words)

	Chinese Whispers (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The Word Detective (http://www.word-detective.com/back-x.html#chinese) describes "chinese fire drill" as a slur dating from World War I, when the British apparently used the prefix "chinese" in a general derogatory sense.
		I have to admit, I've always thought that "chinese fire drill" came from a reference to certain typical sequences in chinese opera (lots of people rushing about in apparent confusion which is actually quite organized.
		Note that the term "opera" might be misleading confusing to westerners-- chinese opera typically includes a lot of acrobatics).
	www.c2.com /cgi/wiki?ChineseWhispers (482 words)

	Inside the editorial page
		My apology in the letters column Sunday for previously using the term “Chinese fire drill” drew this reader reaction:
		'Chinese firedrill' suggests confusion among a group clumsily attempting a supposedly co-ordinated drill.
		Outmoded, no. Church youth groups continue to pull Chinese fire drills each weekend, I assure you.
	blogs.thenewstribune.com /oped (4691 words)

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