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The phrase “slow boat to China” means something is taking a long time, originating from poker slang. It was also used in a romantic sense in a hit song. The term is still used today to refer to long trips or having plenty of time. It was popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is still used in literature and film.
When people talk about a “slow boat to China,” they usually mean that something is taking a long time. The term is often used specifically in reference to movements of people or goods. This slang term is most commonly used in American English, and is particularly associated with the film noir era, when gangsters and detectives alike threw this phrase around a bit.
The origins of the term seem to lie in the game of poker. Card sharks referred to someone who was slowly and steadily losing as a “slow boat to China,” referring to the fact that a patient player could “ride” the victim to the bottom of his or her wallet. The idea was that the payoffs were slow and steady, just like a ship bound for China, making the victim a profitable venture for a poker player.
In 1948, Frank Loesser used the slang term in a slightly different way in his hit song “On a Slow Boat to China.” He used it in a romantic sense, referring to the idea of being so in love with someone that you want to spend as much time with him or her as possible. Both of these meanings referred to the fact that shipping something to China took a long time, and it would take even longer to cross the Pacific in a slow boat.
People keep using this term to refer to long trips or to suggest that they have plenty of time to do something. For example, you might say, “We can sit and talk all you want, because we might as well be on a slow ship to China.” Although the term is no longer used in a romantic sense, because the famous song has fallen out of use, various musicians periodically revive it, causing a corresponding resurgence of the term in popular society.
Some books written or set in the 1940s and 1950s include this slang term, along with a variety of other colorful terms that were popular in this era. Authors and filmmakers like to include the term to lend an air of authenticity to their work, as this piece of American slang was widespread during this era.
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