Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 14:49:48 -0600

From: Joan Houston Hall jdhall[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU

Subject: Re: Chinese Fire Drill



DARE I has two senses of Chinese fire drill:



1. A scene of great confusion; a chaotic situation.



Earliest quotation is from 1961.



2. A college prank in which students jump out of a car as it is stopped at

a stoplight, run around the car, and jump back in as the light turns green.



Earliest quotation 1976, reminiscing about the early 1960s.



Joan Hall, DARE

jdhall[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]facstaff.wisc.edu