Chinese fire drill

[snopes]

Comment: The phrase I am asking about is a "chinese fire drill". I have
always known it to be a game where everyone jumps out of a car at a stop
sign or red light and switches seats. Recently I heard the origin of this
comes from a particularly navy incident where they were supposed to have a
bucket brigade with chinese sailors send buckets down to the fire in the
engine room and another group draining the boat of excess water on the
opposite side so as to not fill the boat with water. The supposed even
actually had water buckets just moving water from one side of the ship to
the other then dumping it. It seems rather inconceivbable that you would
have british sailors and chinese on the same boat and have this caused by
mistranslation. I have seen this in a bunch of places repeated and
strikes me as a repeated urban legend but would like to know the original
origin of the expression "Chinese Fire Drill"

[Beachlife!]

I think I understand what he's saying, but I don't know what it's a problem if they were using the water in the bildge to put out the fire.

When we've done a 'chinese firedrill' everyone runs around the car once and returns to his/her seat. I'm not sure how either description would match up with the story described though.

*ETA: I just reread the description and understand what they are saying, the boat was just being hauled up, ran across the ship and dumped off the other side. I find it hard to believe that that even ever happened.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

People reacting in an emergency? Possibly conscripts, poorly trained? Heck, I can imagine 'em doing that or even worse. They could just have gotten into a fixed drill: "What do I do with this bucket? I guess I'll just do the same thing that guy did." Mindless perserverative activity is just one of the many forms of "panic" that can haunt even the best militaries.

Silas

[Mycroft]

In the UK in the past the word Chinese was used to define something as unusual (or often incorrect).
It was often the case (and still is) that a merchant vessel which frequented Eastern ports (notably the East India Company) would recruit native workers and he only British crew would be the officers, relying on translaters, and a simplyfied form of english (Pidgin English). Often these sailors were Indians (known as Lascars), but a substantial proportion may have been Chinese (probably from Hong Kong).
Overall I think that the origin is probably from the concept of something incorrect being Chinese, subsequently the anecdote being added.

[Hans Off]

As an aside, the Royal Navy has/had a tradition of using Honk Kong nationals (amongst others) on board as "Dhobi-Whallehs*" so the presence of Chinese Nationals** on Navy ships has been pretty common for a long time.

Hans

*Yes "Walleh" is an Indian term, but is wildly used for all sorts of roles in the British Military

**OK in all but name....different debate...

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

In the UK in the past the word Chinese was used to define something as unusual (or often incorrect).
....
Overall I think that the origin is probably from the concept of something incorrect being Chinese, subsequently the anecdote being added.

I only learned this weekend that "Chinese whispers" is called "Telephone" here.

[TrishDaDish]

Here's a discussion of it on the old message board with some other theories. You may begin picking and choosing which may make the most sense.

[ButterscotchCat]

Our town has a small museum dedicated to the Chinese who had their own fire brigade. They ran a 24 hour laundry in wooden buildings. So, the created a fire brigade to keep all safe. Their fire brigade was credited with saving many buildings in the town and were even invited to join in the local parades in a time that they would usually be excluded.

OTH, a bunch of friends and I executed a Chinese Fire Drill, while ditching school, and, my mom drove through the intersection and didn't see us. W00T!

[Roadie]

Originally Posted by Chloe

I only learned this weekend that "Chinese whispers" is called "Telephone" here.

Tsk Tsk. You lose one point for not keeping important information in your head! Sandarwarrior mentioned that in the aforementioned snopes thread 12/11/2005. Or did you put that in the bin in the last spring cleaning?