Chinese fire drill

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A Chinese fire drill is a pejorative expression usually referring to a prank, or perhaps an expression of high spirits, that was popular in the United States during the 1960s.^[1]^[2] It is performed when a car is stopped at a red traffic light, at which point all of the car's occupants get out, run around the car, and return to their own (or go to other) seats. Chinese fire drills are sometimes executed when one needs to get something from the trunk of a car. Occasionally, if one of the participants is late to get inside the car, the others might drive off without him/her. People have reported this phenomenon as early as the 1940s, so it is possible that the phrase was current at the time, but simply was not recorded.

Thus the expression "Chinese Fire Drill" is the act of a group of individuals accomplishing nothing.

The term is also used as a figure of speech to mean any large, ineffective, and chaotic exercise.

[edit] Origins of the term

The term is alleged to have originated in the early 1900s, during a naval incident wherein a ship manned by British officers and a Chinese crew set up a fire drill for fighting a fire in the engine room. In the event of a fire the crew was to form a bucket brigade, drawing water from the starboard side, taking it to the engine room and throwing it on the fire. Because water would accumulate in the engine room, another crew was to take the excess thrown water and haul it back up to the main deck, and then heave it over the port side (in order to bail it out).

When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan, but then orders became confused in translation. The crew for the bucket brigade began drawing the water from the starboard side, running over to the port side, and then throwing the water over, and so by-passing the engine room completely. Thus the expression "Chinese fire drill" entered the English language as meaning a large confused action by individuals accomplishing nothing.^[3]

The term is traditionally explained as coming from a British tendency around the time of World War I to use the adjective Chinese as a slur, implying "confused, disorganized, or inferior." ^[1] Other "Chinese" slurs of the day included "Chinese national anthem" (an explosion) and "Chinese puzzle" (one with no solution). In this context it is related to the stereotype of the Chinese as being "inscrutable", hard to judge, and difficult to understand, all relating to the British experience of a sophisticated but distinctly alien culture. There are earlier isolated examples which were based on ideas of the inferiority of the Chinese.

Several expressions in common use in aviation since World War I, such as "Chinese landing" (a clumsy landing) and "Chinese ace" (an inept pilot), derive from the English phrase One Wing Low, a legitimate technical description of flying and landing technique taken to resemble a Chinese name.^{[citation needed]} Regardless of its origin, it is considered offensive by some. ^[2]^[1]