A Chinese fire drill is a slang term that has been used by Westerners for more than a century, and is today considered offensive or racist. It is used to describe any situation that is chaotic or confusing.
It is also used to describe an American college prank (also known as red-light green-light) performed by a vehicle's occupants when stopped at a traffic light, especially when there is a need to change drivers or get something from the trunk. Before the light changes to green, each occupant gets out, runs around the vehicle, and gets back inside (but not necessarily in his or her original seat). If one of the participants lags, the others may drive off without him or her.
Less commonly, a Chinese fire drill may refer to a literal fire drill on a school bus or the aforementioned gag executed by misbehaving students on a stopped school bus, sometimes involving use of the rear emergency exit.
Read more about Chinese Fire Drill: Origins
Famous quotes containing the words fire and/or drill:
“The tender skin does not shrink from bayonets, the timid woman is not scared by fagots; the rack is not frightful, nor the rope ignominious. The poor Puritan, Antony Parsons, at the stake, tied straw on his head when the fire approached him, and said, “This is God’s hat.””
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Swift blazing flag of the regiment,
Eagle with crest of red and gold,
These men were born to drill and die.
Point for them the virtue of slaughter,
Make plain to them the excellence of killing
And a field where a thousand corpses lie.”
—Stephen Crane (1871–1900)