From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Chinese fire drill is a prank, or perhaps an expression of high spirits, that was popular in the United States during the 1960s. It is performed when a car is stopped at a red traffic light, at which point all of the car's occupants get out, run around the car, and return to their own (or go to other) seats. Chinese Fire Drills are sometimes executed when one needs to get something from the trunk of a car. Occasionally, if one of the participants is late to get inside the car, the others might drive off without him/her. People have reported this phenomenon as early as the 1940s, so it is possible that the phrase was current at the time, but simply was not written down that early.

The term is also used as a figure of speech to mean any large, ineffective, and chaotic exercise. In this usage, it is often shortened to just "fire drill," omitting the offensive insinuation that Chinese people are more likely to engage in such disorderly activity.

The phrase Chinese Fire Drill, in the sense of "a state of utter confusion," first appeared during World War II. Chinese here comes from British military tradition of using the word to mean clumsy, inept, or inferior. It is likely that this was not intended as a slur on the Chinese people, but rather a play on the phrase "one wing low" which referred to a clumsy pilot and was thought to sound Chinese. Regardless of its origin, it is considered offensive by some. [1] [2]

The use of this term to refer to the car prank first appeared in print during the 1970s, though several people have attested to this usage as far back as the 1940s.

Some people in the U.S. use the term Chinese fire drill to refer to a driver changing over one or more lanes too quickly.[3]

There is a song called Chinese Firedrill on the Mike Watt cd, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?.