Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
Chinaman, chinaman (n.)
Chinaman is an ethnic slur, taboo in American English; the accepted term, noun (singular and plural) or adjective, is Chinese. An echo of the taboo word is in the idiom (now much suppressed as well) a Chinaman’s chance, which means “no chance at all.” In British English chinaman (lowercase) is an accepted term in cricket argot, meaning “a left-handed bowler’s off-break to a right-handed batsman.”
