Chinese Fire Drill Definition
noun
A situation or activity marked by confusion or disorder.
American Heritage
A prank in which the people riding in a car get out and change seats when stopped at a traffic light.
American Heritage
(derogatory) A silly, pointless exercise.
Wiktionary
Other Word Forms of Chinese Fire Drill
Noun
Singular:
Chinese fire drill
Plural:
chinese-fire-drillsOrigin of Chinese Fire Drill
Probably from earlier military slang Chinese clumsy, inept (a derogatory epithet based on racist notions of Chinese inferiority) later reinforced by such derogatory expressions as Chinese ace inept pilot (from a joke in which the phrase one wing low) (was interpreted as a Chinese name)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Perhaps from the WWI era, from the British practice of using Chinese as a slur; now used only as a festive exclamation.
From Wiktionary
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