Sentences For Telephone Game

Chinese whispers / Telephone
Genre(s)Children's games
PlayersThree or more
Setup timeNone
Playing timeUser determined
Random chanceMedium
Skill(s) requiredSpeaking, listening

Apr 04, 2019 Good Telephone Game sentences include famous quotes, or sentences containing multiple numbers and colors. Remember that a Telephone Game sentence should be fairly easy to misinterpret. Also, try to use sentences with alliteration. Two tiny toads ate fat flying flies. Chinese whispers (Commonwealth English) or telephone (North American English) is an internationally popular children's game. Players form a line or circle, and the first player comes up with a message and whispers it to the ear of the second person in the line. 45 Funny Telephone Game Phrases. 100+ TV Shows, Movies, and Books for Teenage Charades Games. By Kristy Callan. Say a word or phrase only once. An important rule for the game of telephone, is that you can only say a word or phrase one time. Repeating the phrase will only help to clarify it, going against the point of the game. Only allow those playing one chance to whisper the word or phrase on their turn. This is a great party game for teens or adults. Kind of like a cross between pictionary and telephone, players write sentences, convert each other's sentences into pictures, and back and forth until the results are hilarious.

Funny Sentences For Telephone Game

Chinese whispers (Commonwealth English) or telephone (North American English)[1] is an internationally popular children's game.[2]

Players form a line or circle, and the first player comes up with a message and whispers it to the ear of the second person in the line. The second player repeats the message to the third player, and so on. When the last player is reached, they announce the message they heard to the entire group. The first person then compares the original message with the final version. Although the objective is to pass around the message without it becoming garbled along the way, part of the enjoyment is that, regardless, this usually ends up happening. Errors typically accumulate in the retellings, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly from that of the first player, usually with amusing or humorous effect. Reasons for changes include anxiousness or impatience, erroneous corrections, and the difficult-to-understand mechanism of whispering.

The game is often played by children as a party game or on the playground. It is often invoked as a metaphor for cumulative error, especially the inaccuracies as rumours or gossip spread,[1] or, more generally, for the unreliability of typical human recollection.

Random Sentences For Telephone Game

Etymology[edit]

U.K. and Australian usage[edit]

In the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, the game is typically called 'Chinese whispers'; in the U.K., this is documented from 1964.[3][4]

Various reasons have been suggested for naming the game after the Chinese, but there is no concrete explanation.[5] One suggested reason is a widespread English fascination with Chinese culture in the 18th and 19th centuries, including what is now known as Orientalism[citation needed]. Another proposed theory is that English people of the 19th century believed that Chinese people spoke in a way that was deliberately unintelligible, thus in their minds associating the Chinese language with confusion and incomprehensibility[citation needed]. An additional explanation is the commonplace observation that when two people, such as English and Chinese speakers, try to communicate with each other in their own language, the result is often confusion, and equally often amusing to both parties. A further theory is that the game stems from the supposed confused messages created when a message was passed verbally from tower to tower along the Great Wall of China.[5]

Usage of the term has been defended as being similar to other expression such as 'It's all Greek to me' and 'Double Dutch'.[6]

Historians who focus on Western use of the word Chinese as denoting 'confusion' and 'incomprehensibility' look to the earliest contacts between Europeans and Chinese people in the 17th century, attributing it to a supposed inability on the part of Europeans to understand China's culture and worldview.[7]In this view, using the phrase 'Chinese whispers' is taken as evidence of a belief that the Chinese language itself is not understandable.[8] Additionally, it is claimed, Chinese people have historically been stereotyped by Westerners as secretive or inscrutable.[9] Whether any of this was true for more than a sub-set of English people, or in the minds of the people who named the children's game, is at best speculation.

Yunte Huang, a professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has said that 'Indicating inaccurately transmittedinformation, the expression “Chinese Whispers” carries with it a sense of paranoia caused by espionage, counterespionage, Red Scare, and other war games, real or imaginary, cold or hot'.[10]

Alternative names[edit]

As the game is popular among children worldwide, it is also known under various other names depending on locality, such as Russian scandal,[11]whisper down the lane, broken telephone (in Greece), operator, grapevine, gossip, secret message, the messenger game, and pass the message, among others.[1] In Turkey, this game is called kulaktan kulağa, which means from (one) ear to (another) ear. In France, it is called téléphone arabe (Arabic telephone) or téléphone sans fil (wireless telephone).[12] In Germany the game is known as Stille Post (Silent mail). In Malaysia, this game is commonly referred to as telefon rosak, in Israel as telefon shavur (טלפון שבור) and in Greece as spazmeno tilefono (σπασμένο τηλέφωνο) which all translate to 'broken telephone'. In Poland it is called głuchy telefon, meaning dead call. In Medici-era Florence it was called the 'game of the ear'.[13]

The game has also been known in English as Russian Scandal, Russian Gossip and Russian Telephone.[10]

In the North America, the game is known under the name telephone.[14] Alternative names used in the United States include Broken Telephone, Gossip, and Rumors.[15]

Game[edit]

The game has no winner: the entertainment comes from comparing the original and final messages. Intermediate messages may also be compared; some messages will become unrecognizable after only a few steps.

As well as providing amusement, the game can have educational value. It shows how easily information can become corrupted by indirect communication. The game has been used in schools to simulate the spread of gossip and its possible harmful effects.[16] It can also be used to teach young children to moderate the volume of their voice,[17] and how to listen attentively;[18] in this case, a game is a success if the message is transmitted accurately with each child whispering rather than shouting. It can also be used for older or adult learners of a foreign language, where the challenge of speaking comprehensibly, and understanding, is more difficult because of the low volume, and hence a greater mastery of the fine points of pronunciation is required.[19]

Variants[edit]

A variant of Chinese whispers is called Rumors. In this version of the game, when players transfer the message, they deliberately change one or two words of the phrase (often to something more humorous than the previous message). Intermediate messages can be compared. There is a second derivative variant, no less popular than Rumors, known as Mahjong Secrets (UK), or Broken Telephone (US), where the objective is to receive the message from the whisperer and whisper to the next participant the first word or phrase that comes to mind in association with what was heard. At the end, the final phrase is compared to the first in front of all participants.

A game of Eat Poop You Cat, starting with 'Only the good die young' and ending with 'The three vikings visit Christ'.

The pen-and-paper game Telephone Pictionary (also known as Eat Poop You Cat[20]) is played by alternately writing and illustrating captions, the paper being folded so that each player can only see the previous participant's contribution.[21] The game was first implemented online by Broken Picture Telephone in early 2007.[22] Following the success of Broken Picture Telephone,[23] commercial boardgame versions Telestrations[20] and Cranium Scribblish were released two years later in 2009. Other online creations Drawception and other websites also arrived in 2009.

A translation relay is a variant in which the first player produces a text in a given language, together with a basic guide to understanding, which includes a lexicon, an interlinear gloss, possibly a list of grammatical morphemes, comments on the meaning of difficult words, etc. (everything except an actual translation). The text is passed on to the following player, who tries to make sense of it and casts it into his/her language of choice, then repeating the procedure, and so on. Each player only knows the translation done by his immediate predecessor, but customarily the relay master or mistress collects all of them. The relay ends when the last player returns the translation to the beginning player.

Another variant of Chinese whispers is shown on Ellen's Game of Games under the name of Say Whaaaat?. However, the difference is that the four players will be wearing earmuffs; therefore the players have to read their lips.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ abcBlackmore, Susan J. (2000). The Meme Machine. Oxford University Press. p. x. ISBN0-19-286212-X. The form and timing of the tic undoubtedly mutated over the generations, as in the childhood game of Chinese Whispers (Americans call it Telephone)
  2. ^'Oxford English Dictionary'. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2008-04-14.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^Martin, Gary. 'Phrase Finder: Chinese Whispers'. Phrase Finder. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  4. ^Strahan, Lachlan (June 1992). ''THE LUCK OF A CHINAMAN': IMAGES OF THE CHINESE IN POPULAR AUSTRALIAN SAYINGS'(PDF). East Asian History. Institute of Advanced Studies Australian National University (3): 71. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  5. ^ abChu, Ben (2013). Chinese Whispers Why Everything You've Heard About China is Wrong. Orion. p. Introduction. ISBN9780297868460. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  6. ^'MasterChef contestant under fire for using old saying 'Chinese whispers''. Starts at 60. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  7. ^Dale, Corinne H. (2004). Chinese Aesthetics and Literature: A Reader. New York: State University of New York Press. pp. 15–25. ISBN0-7914-6022-3.
  8. ^Ballaster, Rosalind (2005). Fabulous Orients: fictions of the East in England, 1662–1785. Oxford University Press. pp. 202–3. ISBN0-19-926733-2. The supposedly sinophobic name points to what is claimed to be a centuries-old tradition in Europe of representing spoken Chinese as an incomprehensible and unpronounceable combination of sounds.
  9. ^Young, Linda W. L. (1994-05-26). Crosstalk and Culture in Sino-American Communication. Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521416191.
  10. ^ abHuang, Yunte (Spring 2015). 'Chinese Whispers'. Verge: Studies in Global Asias. 1 (1): 66–69. doi:10.5749/vergstudglobasia.1.1.0066. JSTOR10.5749/vergstudglobasia.1.1.0066. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  11. ^Gryski, Camilla (1998). Let's Play: Traditional Games of Childhood, p.36. Kids Can. ISBN1550744976.
  12. ^'Le téléphone arabe : règle du jeu, origine, variantes et idées de phrase'. Jeux et Compagnie (in French). 2011-11-13. Retrieved 2021-04-20. Arabic telephone, or the wireless telephone, consists of having a sentence created by the first player and then recited aloud by the last player after circulating rapidly by word of mouth through a line of players. The interest of the game is to compare the final version of the sentence with its initial version. Indeed, with the possible errors of articulation, pronunciation, confusions between words and sounds, the final sentence can be completely different from the initial one.
  13. ^Murphy, Caroline P. (2008). Murder of a Medici Princess. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 157. ISBN9780199839896. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  14. ^Jonsson, Emelie; Carroll, Joseph; Clasen, Mathias (2020). Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture. p. 284. ISBN9783030461904. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  15. ^Hitchcock, Robert K.; Lovis, William A. (31 December 2011). Information and Its Role in Hunter-Gatherer Bands. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. p. 11. ISBN9781938770203. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  16. ^Jackman, John; Wendy Wren (1999). 'Skills Unit 8: the Chinese princess'. Nelson English Bk. 2 Teachers' Resource Book. Nelson Thornes. ISBN0-17-424605-6. Play 'Chinese Whispers' to demonstrate how word-of-mouth messages or stories quickly become distorted
  17. ^Collins, Margaret (2001). Because We're Worth It: Enhancing Self-esteem in Young Children. Sage. p. 55. ISBN1-873942-09-5. Explain that speaking quietly can be more effective in communication than shouting, although clarity is important. You could play 'Chinese Whispers' to illustrate this!
  18. ^Barrs, Kathie (1994). music works: music education in the classroom with children from five to nine years. Belair. p. 48. ISBN0-947882-28-6. Listening skills:...Play Chinese Whispers
  19. ^For example, see Hill, op. cit.; or Morris, Peter; Alan Wesson (2000). Lernpunkt Deutsch.: students' book. Nelson Thornes. p. viii. ISBN0-17-440267-8. Simple games for practising vocabulary and/or numbers: ... Chinese Whispers: ...the final word is compared with the first to see how similar (or not!) it is.
  20. ^ ab'Eat Poop You Cat: A silly, fun, and free party game'. annarbor.com. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
  21. ^Jones, Myfanwy (4 November 2010). Parlour Games for Modern Families. Penguin Adult. ISBN9781846143472 – via Google Books.
  22. ^'Nektan Slots Games & Other Communication Games - Broken Picture Telephone'. webcache.googleusercontent.com. Retrieved 2020-09-19.
  23. ^'Best of Casual Gameplay 2009 - Simple Idea Results (browser games) - Jay is games'. jayisgames.com. Retrieved 2020-09-19.

External links[edit]

  • Broken Picture Telephone, an online game based on Chinese Whispers; recently re-activated
  • Global Gossip Game, a game of gossip that passes from library to library around the world on International Games Day at local libraries
  • The Misemotions Game, a variation of Chinese Whispers where participants have to properly convey emotions instead of text messages
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chinese_whispers&oldid=1025472759'
Here are some common phrases and sentences you can use when speaking on the telephone. The informal phrases are mostly for family and friends. The formal phrases are for business and official calls and for calls to important people. Caller unknown means the person answering the phone doesn't know who's calling. This mostly occurs when answering a call to a landline phone without caller ID or to a mobile phone or smartphone from a number that isn't listed in the phone's contacts.

Answering the phone (informal)

  • Hello. Matt here. (caller unknown)
  • Hi, Jody. How are you?
  • Hey, Justin. What's up?

Answering the phone (formal)

Sentences For Telephone Game

  • Hello? Serena speaking. (caller unknown)
  • John Sayles speaking. Who's calling, please? (caller unknown)
  • Doctor Martin's office. May I know who's calling, please? (caller unknown)
  • Thank you for calling Jeans Plus. Jody speaking.
  • Hello Maria. Nice to hear from you.
  • Hello Dr Jones. How can I help you?
  • City Library. Kim speaking. What can I do for you, Robert?

Introducing yourself

  • Hey George. It's Lisa calling. (informal)
  • Hello, this is Julie Madison calling.
  • Hi. It's Angelina from the dentist's office here. (informal)
  • Hello Sayoko. This is Alan calling from Big Boyz Autobody.

Asking to speak with someone

  • Hi. Is Nina there? (informal)
  • Can you put Michael on? (informal)
  • Can I talk to Josef? Tell him Marilyn's calling. (informal)
  • May I speak to Mr. Green in the accounting department, please?
  • Good morning. Is Dr Martin available, please?

Connecting someone

  • Just a sec. I'll get him. (informal)
  • Hang on a moment. I'll see if she's in. (informal)
  • One moment please. I'll see if he's available.
  • Hold the line please. I'll put you through in a moment.
  • Please hold while I put you through to the manager's office.
  • All of our staff are busy at this time. Please hold for the next available person.

Making a request

  • Could you please repeat that?
  • Would you mind spelling that for me?
  • Could you speak up a little, please?
  • Can you speak a little slower, please. My English isn't very good, I'm afraid.
  • Could you let me know when she'll be in the office, please?
  • Would you mind calling back in an hour? I'm in a meeting just now.
  • Can you call again? I think we have a bad connection.
  • Please hold for just a minute. I have another call.
  • Please don't call this number again.

Taking a message

  • Can I take a message?
  • Would you like to leave a message?
  • Sammy's not in. I can tell him you called if you like. (informal)
  • No, that's okay. I'll call him later. (informal)
  • I'm sorry, but Lisa's not here at the moment. Can I take a message?
  • I'm afraid he's stepped out. Would you like to leave a message?
  • She's busy right now. Would you like her to return your call?
  • He's in a meeting at the moment. Can he call you back when he's free?
  • Fine. I'll let him know you called.
  • I'll make sure she gets your message.

Funny Sentences For Telephone Game

Leaving a message

  • Can I leave a message?
  • Would you mind giving her a message?
  • Would it be possible to leave a message?
  • Could you tell her Jonathon called?
  • Could you ask him to call Paul when he gets in?
  • I don't think he has my number. Do you have a pen handy?
  • Thanks. It's James Brown and my number is 222 3456.
For

Confirming a message

  • Let me repeat that just to make sure. It's James Brown at 222 3456?
  • Was that 555 Charles Street, Apartment 66?
  • I'll make sure he gets the message.
  • It's Johnny, right? And you won't be at the club until midnight. (informal)
  • Okay, got it. I'll let him know. (informal)

Answering machine and voicemail phrases

  • Hey, Brad here. What's up? Let me know after the tone, OK? (informal)
  • Hi, this is Liz. I'm sorry I can't take your call right now, but if you leave a message after the tone I'll get back to you as soon as I can.
  • You've reached 222 6789. Please leave a message after the tone. Thank you.
  • Thank you for calling Dr. Mindin's office. Our hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Please call back during these hours or leave a message after the tone. If this is an emergency, please call the hospital at 333 7896.
  • You have reached Steve James, your guide to Computer Technology. Unfortunately, I can't take your call right now, but if you leave me a message and include your name and telephone number, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. You can also contact me via email at computech@XYZ.com. Thank you for calling.

Leaving an answering machine or voicemail message

  • Hey Mikako. It's Yuka. Call me, OK? (informal)
  • Hello, this is Ricardo calling. Could you please return my call as soon as possible. My number is 334 5689. Thank you.
  • Hi Anderson. This is Marina from the doctor's office calling. I just wanted to let you know that you're due for a check-up this month. Please call us to make an appointment at your earliest convenience.
Sentences for telephone game

Ending a conversation

Sentences For Telephone GameSentences For Telephone Game
  • Well, I guess I'd better get going. Talk again soon, OK? (informal)
  • Thanks for calling. Bye for now.
  • I have to let you go now.
  • I have another call coming through. I'd better run.
  • I'm afraid that's my other line.
  • I'll talk to you again soon. Bye Jules.
Sentences For Telephone Game

Good Sentences For Telephone Game

Sometimes we have to spell something over the telephone like an address or a name. Native English speakers often use a special alphabet when they spell over the phone. For example, 'The postcode is B2V 3A8. That's B for Bravo, number 2, V for Victor, number 3, A for Alpha, number 8.'