oh, bravo subby. you actually made me laugh aloud

'livin' this life is like trying to learn Latin... in a Chinese fire drill..."

Thanks for putting that song in my head, submitter. (Non snark... I dig the song.)

Katie98_KT: oh, bravo subby. you actually made me laugh aloud

Ha! Same here. I'm snickering trying not to wake up my wife. God I love racist humor.

golf clap and high five for you, subby!!!
way2go :-)

Third_Uncle_Emo: golf clrap

FTFY.

Full blown applause subby. Way better than a golf clap.

nudave [TotalFark] Quote 2008-05-10 10:06:54 AM
Third_Uncle_Emo: golf clrap

FTFY.

I LOL'd



/obligatory

ha! I actually getting ready to write some shiat like "hey...isn't that a chi..."...then it clicked. Good one sub.

/coffee now.....

Chinese fire drill like a good fart always funny.

I LOLed. Bravo Subby!

I don't get it.

The world today seems absolutely crackers...

Best Fark headline I've seen in a long time. It's always good to start the day with a good laugh.

Did somebody say "Chinese Fire Drirr?"

Don't worry...I'rr get the arrarm:



/ROR

I Raughed Out Roud. Thank you Subby

Idiots can't even be racist correctly. The R and L thing is for Japanese people. Morons.

+1 for you, Subby.

/i lol'd

crookedtoe: Idiots can't even be racist correctly. The R and L thing is for Japanese people. Morons. Morans.

/FTFY
//Moran

LOL funny subby.

Props.

crookedtoe
Idiots can't even be racist correctly. The R and L thing is for Japanese people. Morons.

No, it's Chinese too. I used to live in Toronto's China town, and before that, in Vancouver so I've been around enough Chinese people to know. And it's morAns btw.

Tentacle

WIN

I don't get the reference. Someone wanna explain it to me?

bigpeeler: Katie98_KT: oh, bravo subby. you actually made me laugh aloud

Ha! Same here. I'm snickering trying not to wake up my wife. God I love racist humor.

OK, how exactly is this racist? Maybe the true meaning of the phrase has been lost over time, but when I hear "Chinese fire drill", I just think of people running around their own car at a traffic light.

/Nice one subby. That joke kinda sneaks up on you.
//Chinese is a race?

unclejimbo827: I don't get the reference. Someone wanna explain it to me?

I'd never heard of this, but according to Wikipedia "Chinese fire drill" was something that people did in the 60's, where for some reason, they'd stop at a red light, and everyone would jump out of the car and run around the car and then get back into their original seat.

So I can only assume that this thread is full of Farkers who are at least 50 years old.

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. [1]

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." [2] 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. [3][2]

Nice one subby, still laughing.

As a Chinee, I'm getting a kick . . .

No, srsly, way funny subby.

+10

ROR!

Apparently there were no cults to storm and so it was a slow news day .....

I get all of my China news from KXXV - Waco - Temple - Killeen.

2chris2
unclejimbo827: I don't get the reference. Someone wanna explain it to me?

I'd never heard of this, but according to Wikipedia "Chinese fire drill" was something that people did in the 60's, where for some reason, they'd stop at a red light, and everyone would jump out of the car and run around the car and then get back into their original seat.

So I can only assume that this thread is full of Farkers who are at least 50 years old.

Nope, they still do it today

/and by they, I mean me
//21
///although we usually switch seats

As a rule american born asian folks are much more capable of taking racial jokes. my stepson is half japanese half Filipino and we went out to dinner the other day and were talking about his new job. He likes it alot but the uniform is black scrubs. hes like "all I would need is the flip flops and the straw cone hat to be an extra in Miss Saigon. Im afraid some old vet is going to come in for testing and have a bad flashback. I keep wanting to come in to work with a plastic AK-47."

Digitalstrange

hahaha awesome!

Well, I didn't need that keyboard anyway...

Excellent headline, got a laugh out of me subby.

A+

I love playing that game at stoplights.

/Subby rocks

fernandez: Nope, they still do it today

/and by they, I mean me
//21
///although we usually switch seats

Last chinese fire drill I did was when I was about 20. Did it with some cousins from Mexico who knew nothing about it. But they liked it.

Not sure why that was so funny but chest hurts now, keyboard ruined, etc etc.

Brilliant, subby.

+2 subby.

I lol'd and then read to hubby, who lol'd too.

There are some cultural things that are just randomly distributed. I've never *done* a "Chinese fire drill", but I knew the phrase...

Also, +1, headline is hilarious.