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Reader question: Please explain this example sentence, particularly the phrase “Chinese whispers”: As news of Michael Jackson’s death spread like Chinese Whispers on Twitter, more spurious stories sprang up. My comments: In his time, Michael Jackson, King of Pop, was biggest star of them all. His death, on June 25, 2009, shocked a lot of fans. It came out of the blue as the singer was preparing for his final concert tour. The concerts, aptly titled This Is It, would have commenced on July 13, meaning they were barely three weeks away. As news of Jackson’s death spread on Twitter, all sorts of rumors on the cause of his death sprang up. Some say he died of drug overdose. Others suggested suicide. Still others pointed to murder. In short, people heard others say something and retold that story, missing bits here while adding pieces there and re-hurtle the story online. Hence the story spread like Chinese Whispers. Chinese Whispers, of course, is the pass-the-message game people play around the world. In this game, people line up in a straight line. The person at the head of the line whispers a simple story or merely a full sentence to the ear of the person next to him or her. The next person then retells the story to the next person, who in turn passes the story on to the next in line and the next. In the end, the last person to hear the story will tell what he hears to the whole group – drawing big laughs in return. | 
