Chinese water torture

[Joseph McCollum]

In re pimp, my guess would be that it's from such expressions as
"pimpmobile"  -- it's a 'cool' car.

I've always known "Chinese water torture" to be a dripping faucet in a
sink or bathtub, with a noise so loud that a person cannot sleep.  The
water need not be dripping on the person.  I heard the expression quite a
bit in my childhood (late 1960's-early 1970's).  I do not make any
connection between Chinese fire drill and Chinese water torture.