[Im_Juz_ChiLLin]

Today, the name "Chinese whispers" is said by some to be considered offensive. Historians trace Westerners' use of the word Chinese to denote "confusion" and "incomprehensibility" to the earliest contacts between Europeans and Chinese people in the 1600s, and attribute it to Europeans' inability to understand and appreciate China's radically different culture and worldview. Using the phrase "Chinese whispers" suggested a belief that the Chinese language itself is not understandable.