Chinese whispers

British  

noun

1. a game in which a message is passed on, in a whisper, by each of a number of people, so that the final version of the message is often radically changed from the original

2. any situation where information is passed on in turn by a number of people, often becoming distorted in the process

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Example Sentences

In this they are quite unlike testimonies, which degrade as they pass from ear to ear in an endless game of Chinese whispers; eighteenth-century probability theorists actually devised formulae for calculating this rate of degradation.

From Literature

Some messages are still passed down human chains by shouting them in a form of Chinese whispers that are anything but whispered.

From Reuters

Chinese whispers An intriguing post by economist Christopher Balding on his blog, Balding’s World, makes the case against Chinese tech giant Huawei.

From The Guardian

A chain of Chinese whispers got back to my agent, who had to call and tell me that “It had been a little bit difficult in the fitting” and “You’re a little bit bigger than you were last year.”

From The Guardian

With the Scot’s participation confined to only doubles action while he continues to regain his fitness following hip surgery in January, a round of Chinese whispers gathered steam as fans feared Herbert’s injury could scupper Murray’s challenge even before he had hit a ball in anger.

From Reuters