Chinese whispers

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Chinese whispers (uncountable)

1. (games, chiefly UK) A game for several players in which a phrase, whispered by each person in turn to their neighbor, is often unwittingly misunderstood as it is transferred, to humorous effect by the time it reaches the last person and is compared with the original phrase.

   Synonyms: (Canada, US) telephone, broken telephone, operator, pass it down, Russian scandal, telephone game, a whisper down the lane

   • 1965, A. J. Grainger, “The Bullring”, in The New Era in Home and School, volume 46, London: New Education Fellowship, page 216:

     Some members made it clear that they were not going to participate at all, because it was the last Bullring, and brought in books to read or played games like ‘Chinese Whispers’, totally ignoring any remarks that were made.

   • 2014, Darian Leader, Introducing Lacan: A Graphic Guide, Icon Books Ltd, →ISBN:

     This is no doubt the reason why children play Chinese Whispers. One child whispers a message to another and it travels around the circle of children, only to be revealed by the last member of the chain.

2. (figuratively, by extension) Any situation where something is changed or misunderstood as a result of passing through successive people or processes.
   • 1999, Tom Owen, “Israel in South Lebanon”, in The Jewish Quarterly, volume 43, number Spring 1999, London: Jewish Literary Trust, page 15:

     The UN would rather not be associated with blowing mosques to smithereens in a part of the world where propaganda is everywhere, and information spreads like Chinese whispers.

   • 2004, Helen Walters, 200% Cotton: New T-Shirt Graphics, page 141:

     Rightly famed for their year 2000 project, RMX//A Visual Remix Project, for which they remixed each others' work in a Chinese Whispers-style process, they have also printed T-shirts with their eye-catching graphics […]

• Chinese whispers on Wikipedia.Wikipedia