Here's an interesting trivia I've read recently: >Brainwash - A calque of Chinese 洗腦, consisting of the characters 洗; 'wash' and 腦; 'brain'. A term first used by the People's Volunteer Army during the Korean War, then picked up by the American media. It may refer to a forcible indoctrination to induce someone to give up basic political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas; or persuasion by propaganda or salesmanship. The term "brainwashing" came into the mainstream English language after Western media sources first utilized the term to describe the attitudes of POWs returning from the Korean War. the term 洗脳 also exists in Japanese (porn) of course, but it was a backtranslation/reimport from English rather than Chinese 朝鮮戦争時、中国共産党の用語『洗脑（洗腦 xǐnǎo ）』に由来、但し、日本語にはそれを英訳したbrainwashingを、さらに和訳したもの。