Re: META: "Chinese whispers"

----- Original Message ----
> From: Peter Collier <petecollier@...>
> 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?
>
> P.
I believe it's a British term. I only guessed its meaning because The Cure had
an album called "Japanese Whispers" back in the day, an apparent reference to
the same game.

In the US, I've only ever heard it called "Telephone," although unlike Matthew,
I'd been told the name came from the way in which a message gets messed up
through iterations of telephone conversations (I call my brother, who calls his
friend, who calls his mother, who... and down the line, until the final message
is completely different).

Wikipedia says other names include "Le téléphone arabe" and "Russian scandal," so the
reference appears to be to people passing on a message in a language they don't
understand (and thus mucking it up), although I could see how someone could
take that reference to be culturally insensitive (cf. the etymology of
"barbarian").

I haven't been participating regardless, but I for one am all for changing it to
the utterly non-controversial "Telephone." :) Or "Stille Post," which Wikipedia
also offers, in the interest of not siding with either the UK or the US. ;)

-- Paul

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