Chinese Fire Drill
"Chinese fire drill" is a predominantly American slang term for a situation that is chaotic or confusing, possibly due to poor or misunderstood instructions. It may also be known as a Polish fire drill or, increasingly, simply as a fire drill. The phrase has been critiqued due to it associating "Chinese" as a descriptor with incompetence, chaos or otherwise poor quality. Origins The term is generally regarded as having originated with British troops either during or prior to WWI, with the phrase then spreading to their American counterparts due to their mixing throughout the war. The phrase then remained popular in American English while eventually falling out of use elsewhere. One specific tale of the phrase's origin is alleged to have occurred in the 1900s when a ship run by British officers and a Chinese crew practiced a fire drill for a fire in the engine room. The bucket brigade were to draw water from the starboard side, pass it to the engine room, and pour it onto the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of particular in-groups in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. The word itself came about in the 18th century and has been defined in multiple ways since its conception, with no single technical usage in linguistics. Etymology of the word ''slang'' In its earliest attested use (1756), the word ''slang'' referred to the vocabulary of "low" or "disreputable" people. By the early nineteenth century, it was no longer exclusively associated with disreputable people, but continued to be applied to usages below the level of standard educated speech. In Scots dialect it meant "talk, chat, gossip", as used by Aberdeen poet William Scott in 1832: "The slang gaed on aboot their war'ly care." In northern English dialect it me ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Patty Kuderer
Patricia Eileen Kuderer (born 1958) is an American politician and attorney who is serving as the 9th Insurance Commissioner of Washington since 2025. She previously served as a member of the Washington State Senate for the 48th district from 2017 to 2025. She was appointed to the State Senate after Cyrus Habib was elected lieutenant governor. In 2024, Kuderer was elected as Insurance Commissioner of Washington, succeeding Mike Kreidler. Early life and education Kuderer was born in Minneapolis. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor from the William Mitchell College of Law (now the Mitchell Hamline School of Law). Political career The King County Council appointed Kuderer to the Washington House of Representatives in 2015, following the resignation of Ross Hunter. Following the election of Cyrus Habib to be lieutenant governor of Washington in 2016, county and state Democrats chose Kuderer to succeed Habib in the Washing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Car Games
Car games are games played to pass the time on long car journeys, often started by parents to amuse restless children. They generally require little or no equipment or playing space. Some such games are designed specifically to be played while traveling (e.g. the license plate game, the Alphabet Game, or "car tag" games like Punch Buggy), while others are games that can be played in a variety of settings including car journeys (e.g. twenty questions). Alphabet Game In the alphabet game, each player has to find the letters of the alphabet among signs and other pieces of text in the environment around them, working through the alphabet in order from A to Z. Players may take turns, each turn lasting five miles of driving distance, or may play cooperatively with each other. Car-spotting games Various games involve players looking out for a particular model of car on the road. The game ends when the travellers reach their destination, and the person who spotted the most cars wi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Practical Jokes
A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. The perpetrator of a practical joke is called a "practical joker" or "prankster". Other terms for practical jokes include gag, rib, jape, or shenanigan. Some countries in western nations make it tradition to carry out pranks on April Fools' Day and Mischief Night. Purpose Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks or hoaxes in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being talked into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes are generally lighthearted and without lasting effect; they aim to make the victim feel humbled or foolish, but not victimized or humiliated. Thus most practical jokes are affectionate gestures of humour and designed to encourage laughter. However, practical jokes performed with cruelty ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stereotypes Of East Asians In The United States
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example, an expectation about the group's personality, preferences, appearance or ability. Stereotypes make information processing easier by allowing the perceiver to rely on previously stored knowledge in place of incoming information. Stereotypes are often faulty, inaccurate, and resistant to new information. Although stereotypes generally have negative implications, they aren't necessarily negative. They may be positive, neutral, or negative. They can be broken down into two categories: explicit stereotypes, which are conscious, and implicit stereotypes, which are subconscious. Explicit stereotypes An explicit stereotype is a belief about a group that a person is consciously aware of and knowingly uses to judge others. If person ''A ''is mak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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List Of Practical Joke Topics
This is a list of practical joke topics (also known as a prank, gag, jape, or shenanigan) which are mischievous tricks or jokes played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks or hoaxes in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being fooled into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes or pranks are generally lighthearted, reversible and non-permanent, and aim to make the victim feel foolish or victimised to a degree, but may also involve cruelty and become a form of bullying if performed without appropriate finesse. Practical jokes 0–9 * 2004 Harvard–Yale prank A * Alhokm Baad Almozawla * April Fools' Day * List of April Fools' Day jokes B * Berners Street hoax * Bingo Shooting Device * Black fax C * Caltech–MIT rivalry * ''Candid Camera'' * Capping stunt * Josiah S. Carberry * Chewing gum bug * Chinese finger trap ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fireworks
Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices in an outdoor setting. Such displays are the focal point of many cultural and religious Celebration (party), celebrations, though mismanagement could lead to List of fireworks accidents and incidents, fireworks accidents. Fireworks take many forms to produce four primary effects: noise, light, smoke, and floating materials (confetti most notably). They may be designed to burn with colored flames and sparks including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and silver. They are generally classified by where they perform, either 'ground' or 'aerial'. Aerial fireworks may have their own Air propulsion, propulsion (skyrocket) or be shot into the air by a Mortar (weapon), mortar (aerial shell). Most fireworks consist of a paper or ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bart Simpson
Bartholomew Jo-Jo "Bart" Simpson is a character in the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' who is part of the titular family. Bart made his television debut in the short " Good Night" on '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. Initially called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip '' Life in Hell'', Groening developed a new set of characters. Unlike the other Simpson family members, who were named after Groening's relatives, Bart's name is an anagram of ''brat''. After two years on ''The Tracey Ullman Show'', the Simpson family received their own series, which premiered on Fox on December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every episode of ''The Simpsons'' except " Four Great Women and a Manicure". Always ten years old, Bart is the eldest child and only son of Homer and Marge Simpson and the brother of Lisa and Maggie. Known for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinatown, Manhattan
Manhattan's Chinatown is a Neighborhoods in Manhattan, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy, Manhattan, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center, Manhattan, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 100,000 people, Chinatown is home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in New York City, Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere.* * * * * Manhattan's Chinatown is also one of the oldest Overseas Chinese, Chinese ethnic enclaves. The Manhattan Chinatown is one of Chinese Americans in New York City, nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City, as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017. Chinatown is also a densely populated neighborhood, with over 141,000 residents living in its vicinity encompassing 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Simpsons Season 9
The ninth season of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' aired on Fox between September 21, 1997 and May 17, 1998. It began with " The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson". Mike Scully served as showrunner for the ninth ''production'' season. The ninth ''broadcast'' season contained three episodes with 4F-series production codes, indicating that they were hold-over episodes from ''production'' season eight, and two episodes with 3G-series production codes, which are not explicitly confirmed to be part of any production season but are speculated to be relabeled 3F-series ( seventh production season) episodes. This makes it the first broadcast season to include holdover episodes from ''two'' previous production seasons. Season nine won three Emmy Awards: " Trash of the Titans" for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) in 1998, Hank Azaria won "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" for the voice of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The City Of New York Vs
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joey Vera
Joey Vera (born April 24, 1963) is an American bassist who is known as a member of the heavy metal band Armored Saint and progressive metal band Fates Warning. During 2004 and early 2005, he toured with Anthrax as a fill-in for Frank Bello, who had taken a break from the band. He was also a member of Engine, recorded with Tribe After Tribe, and appears on the OSI album '' Free''. His first solo album, ''A Thousand Faces'', was released in 1994. His current solo project, A Chinese Firedrill, released an album titled ''Circles'' in 2007. In August 2019, Vera was announced as the touring bassist for a newly reunited Mercyful Fate filling in for Timi Hansen. He remained with the band until 2024. Originally a guitar player, Vera took interest in playing the instrument after listening to Kiss' '' Alive!'', and by the time Armored Saint formed, he had switched from guitar to bass. Vera has cited Geezer Butler, John Deacon, John Entwistle, Larry Graham, Steve Harris, Louis Joh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |