Re: META: "Chinese whispers"

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From: "Peter Collier" <petecollier@...>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...>
>
>> Sorry, but am I the only one a bit bothered by the subject of the
>> other thread?  I don't know the history of the term but it has the
>> terribly politically incorrect flavor of terms like "Indian giving",
>> "going Dutch", "Chinese fire drill", and so on, and I'm kind of
>> surprised it passed unremarked.  Maybe the name is purely a linguistic
>> reference, to people passing along messages in a language they don't
>> speak, or something?
>>
>> --
>> Sent from my mobile device
>>
>> Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>
>
>
> No,- it's a children's game - they all sit in a circle and the first child
> whispers something to the next, and it gets passed on around the circle.
> When it gets back to the beginining it's compared to the original.
>
> I'm surprised you've not heard of it! Maybe its just a British thing, or
> perhaps we're different ages?
>
> It's quite commonplace - I can't imagine it's in anyway a pejorative term,
> although to be fair I suppose you would have to ask a Chinese person's
> opinion.
>
>
> P.
Trying to find an explanation for the name of the game, I found this on
wikipedia which quite neatly sums up the differences in perception of the
offeniveness or otherwise of the name:

"In the United States, 'Telephone' is the most common name for the game. The
name 'Chinese Whispers' reflects the former stereotype in Europe of the
Chinese language as being incomprehensible. It is little-used in the United
States and may be considered offensive. It remains the common British name
for the game."

It throws no light on whether that means the British are being offensive, or
the Americans overly sensitive!

P.

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