Part 14: The Elephant in the Room
The elephant in the room is a big problem that everyone knows but avoids talking about because it is embarrassing, controversial, or sensitive.
Here are a few examples:
(1) "At our family gathering, everyone was talking about his or her favourite meal, but Peter's expulsion from college was the elephant in the room."
(2) "His alcoholism was the elephant in the room. Everyone knew he had a drinking problem, but no one said anything."
(3) "Politicians are focusing on the wrong issues and ignoring the elephant in the room."
The earliest know use of the phrase is in The Inquisitive Man, a story written in 1814 by Ivan Krylov, a Russian poet.
In the story, a curious man meets a friend, and they start a conversation.
CURIOUS MAN: "Good morning, my good fellow! And where do you come from?"
FRIEND: "From the Museum of Natural History, where I have just spent three hours. I saw everything there was to see and examined it carefully."
CURIOUS MAN: "Tell me what you saw."
FRIEND: "I saw butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and tiny little gnats - some of them are smaller than the head of a pin!"
CURIOUS MAN: "There is an elephant at the Museum of Natural History. What did you think of him?"
FRIEND: "Elephant? Are you quite sure that they have an elephant?"
CURIOUS MAN: "Quite sure."
FRIEND: "Well, don't tell anybody—but the fact is that I didn't notice the elephant!"
CURIOUS MAN: "That's interesting. I find it hard to believe that you saw all the little creatures in the museum, but you didn't notice the elephant in the room."
