White Elephant In The Room Meaning
The meaning if not the exact wording dates from at least the 1950s and is possibly some years older than that.
White elephant in the room meaning. What does white elephant expression mean. In modern usage it is an object building project scheme business venture facility etc considered expensive but without use or value. An elephant in the room meaning. Definitions by the largest idiom dictionary.
The expression elephant in the room usually the elephant in the room or the elephant in the living room is a metaphorical idiom in english for an important or enormous topic question or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable or is personally socially or politically. The first reference to the phrase that i have found is in the charleston gazette july 1952. A white elephant is a possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost particularly that of maintenance is out of proportion to its usefulness. 1 a discussion of european or caucasian oppression of minorities in which a white person is present.
Chicago that s an old indian word meaning get that elephant out of your room. If you say there is an elephant in the room you mean that there is an obvious problem or.