# Chinese Junkyard **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732 "2009-01-03T20:14:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![linfran68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@linfran68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/linfran68)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/1 "2009-01-03T20:14:36Z")
My parents were the best at integrating phrases, such as the above, into their daily language. Conseguently, we do the same without giving it much thought. To the amusement of his older children, this past Sunday, my pastor brother used the term “a Chinese junkyard” in his sermon. (I wasn’t present but heard about it afterward.) The problem is that his college aged son had his Chinese girlfriend in attendence at the church that morning and she wants to know what was meant by a Chinese junkyard. She lives in Hong Kong and is attending school in the states, so does not have much experience with our strange English lanquage and terms. I’m beginning to think we don’t either. Does anyone have any idea where this phrase originated? Thank you linfran68 ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/2 "2009-01-03T20:20:33Z")
I’ve never heard this phrase. Assuming it’s not simply a junkyard in China, what does it mean? ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/3 "2009-01-03T20:28:36Z")
What was the context? Did it have a negative meaning, along the lines of [Chinese fire drill?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_fire_drill) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/4 "2009-01-03T20:38:22Z")
A Chinese junk is a kind of a boat (I learned this by reading Hardy Boys mysteries as a kid). So a Chinese junkyard would be a marina? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/5 "2009-01-03T20:46:34Z")
Meh, we have [ship yards](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_yard), the chinese have junk yards. I’ve never heard of a chinese junkyard. Out of context, I assume the pastor was just trying to emphasize the word ‘junkyard’. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/6 "2009-01-03T21:20:16Z")
I might know the answer but I have to piss like a Russian racehorse so it will have to wait right now. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/7 "2009-01-03T21:55:10Z")
Did you ask your brother? ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/8 "2009-01-03T22:01:32Z")
My thought on reading the thread title was something akin to the “Before and After” clues on Wheel of Fortune, where 2 unrelated phrases are tied together with a common word. In this case, “Chinese junk” and “junkyard” are combined to make “Chinese junkyard.” ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/9 "2009-01-03T22:05:47Z")
It’d probably help if the OP also can convey the contexts in which his/her parents used the expression. If it was say a description of the kids’ hopelessly untidy room, then probably it’s along the same lines as “Chinese firedrill” or “Mexican standoff” or “Dutch courage.” Which is to say mildly chauvinistic characterizations of an “other” group. I’ve used Chinese firedrill with Chinese acquaintances (some of whom were all to ready to agree that other Chinese, maybe not them, tended to live in squalorous or disordered or chaotic conditions). Also, “Chinese junk” was ready to hand because of the boat, so maybe someone was just making a play on that. ---
**Author:** ![linfran68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@linfran68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/linfran68)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/10 "2009-01-04T02:27:30Z")
According to members of the family that I have asked, Chinese Junkyard, is used to describe a very messy place of some sort. I just don’t understand why a Chinese Junkyard or “Junk” yard, would be any messier than a junkyard of any other nationality. Maybe as a couple of you stated, it is just our way of making statements like Chinese Firedrill, etc. As a nation we seem to like the putdowns that make us feel superior. (…or IS it just our nation?) linfran68 ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/11 "2009-01-04T04:12:49Z")
In my experience, Chinese junkyards are better organized that your standard junkyard. There is a strong indigenous recycling culture (no doubt due to poverty) so every useful bit gets sorted. My host family used to take their trash down to the junkyard, where they’d get paid some small amount. They’d even bargain and move on the the next junkyard if they didn’t get the price they wanted. The junkyards themselves were organized into pretty orderly piles. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/12 "2009-01-04T04:57:49Z")
Thinking back on a cool mineral specimen I used to have, which I was told was a “Chinese Algebra” rock, I have come to the conclusion that most often the word “Chinese” in English phrases denotes something that we consider incredibly complicated or confusing – not just _algebra_, but _ **Chinese Algebra** _, another order of magnitude. (Not just _tax law_, but _Chinese tax law_… see what I mean?) When the Chinese and American cultures first became well-acquainted, I’m sure there were a lot of things that they found mutually incomprehensible. And probably still are. Think of it as a whimsical sort of bemusement. Like when you try to figure out what the pictograms mean in an unfamiliar car. P.S. **even sven** : Are you saying that in Communist China, _junkyard pay you?_ ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/13 "2009-01-04T09:44:28Z")
[Craig Shoemaker as the Love Master] Baby you got me harder than Chinese Algebra![/CSATLM] ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/14 "2009-01-04T11:28:13Z")
> [@brujaja](#): > > Thinking back on a cool mineral specimen I used to have, which I was told was a “Chinese Algebra” rock, I have come to the conclusion that most often the word “Chinese” in English phrases denotes something that we consider incredibly complicated or confusing – not just _algebra_, but _ **Chinese Algebra** _, another order of magnitude. (Not just _tax law_, but _Chinese tax law_… see what I mean?) > > When the Chinese and American cultures first became well-acquainted, I’m sure there were a lot of things that they found mutually incomprehensible. Probably not. In English, to use _Chinese_ as an adjective or noun to describe something was usually considered offensive(and meant that way). It dates back to WWI(with a very few earlier exceptions) and I’ve seen contemporary references to the possibility the Yanks picked it up from the Brits. Examples: (1918) > [@](#): > > First Pilot: He made a Chinese landing. Second Pilot: Howzat? First Ditto: Wing low. > [@](#): > > (1919) Then to add to the troubles, the lumbering American caisson–or “Chinese caisson” as it was commonly called–went half over a bank… Most of the early cites are from the military, but then it creeps into sports(1934) > [@](#): > > _Western Slang Dict._ _Chinese blow_–A lucky hit; a ball that is just beyond reach. **Chinese fire drill** comes along about WWII, with the actual first cite being > [@](#): > > fouled up like a Filipino at fire-drill \*All cites courtesy of Jon Lighter at the _Historical Dictionary of American Slang_ ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/15 "2009-01-04T12:10:36Z")
> [@](#): > > First Pilot: He made a Chinese landing. Second Pilot: Howzat? First Ditto: Wing low. I can’t tell you why, but this has me giggling like a school girl. I will probably end up in hell for this. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/16 "2009-01-04T12:34:03Z")
I’ve heard the term “Chinese (Thing)” used to denote something especially chaotic, disorganised, or thrown together- a group planning meeting being called a “Chinese Parliament” (because everyone is talking at once and it’s not going to lead anywhere or achieve anything productive), and the playground game “Chinese Whispers” (where the message gets more and more garbled as it’s transmitted from person to person), to name two examples. So, without any further context than that given to us by the OP, I’d say a “Chinese Junkyard” is probably an incredible mess or disorganised thing- a Junkyard being incredibly messy, and a Chinese one presumably being even more so (or at least that’s the connotation, IMHO). ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/17 "2009-01-04T12:36:21Z")
Your mama’s so fat, she’s got more Chins than a Chinese phonebook! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-junkyard/479732/18 "2009-01-04T16:59:29Z")
linfran68, as far as we’ve been able to determine in this thread, the members of your family are the only people who use the term “Chinese junkyard” in that meaning.