What Does The Phrase There Is An Elephant In The Room Mean

If you say there is an elephant in the room you mean that there is an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about.

What does the phrase there is an elephant in the room mean. The expression 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 embarrassing controversial inflammatory or dangerous. It is based on the idea thought that something as conspicuous as an. We all sat sipping our tea quietly no one wanting to bring up the elephant in the room about joel s expulsion from college. The statement might be made by a person who feels responsible for getting to the real issue.

If there is an elephant in the room it means that an obvious problem is being ignored. The elephant in the room also elephant in the living room elephant in the corner elephant on the dinner table elephant in the kitchen etc is an english idiom for an obvious truth that is. Jim arrived at work and his clothes were soaking wet. In the early 20 th century the phrase began to signify something conspicuous and discordant that just can t be ignored.

Put another way it is a noticeable issue that is not acknowledged or addressed. The concept was amusing enough to a few authors of that century that they frequently made references to krylov when mocking a character with poor perception although they never really mentioned that the elephant was in a room. The first reference to the phrase that i have found is in the charleston gazette july 1952. Financing schools has become a problem about equal to having an elephant in the.

Elephant in the room an obvious truth or fact especially one regarded as embarrassing or undesirable that is being intentionally ignored or left unaddressed. The meaning if not the exact wording dates from at least the 1950s and is possibly some years older than that. One of the popular uses was a simile in the new york times.