Editing Elephant in the room

{{short description|English idiom of an obvious major problem that no one mentions}}
{{other uses}}{{Original research|date=July 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
[[File:Elephant's tea party, Robur Tea Room, Sydney, 24 March 1939 - Sam Hood (3529604677).jpg|thumb|A [[Literal and figurative language|literal]] [[elephant]] in a room, attending a [[Sydney]] [[tea party]] in 1939. The metaphorical elephant in the room represents an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about.<ref name=cam/>]]
The expression "'''the elephant in the room'''" (or "'''the elephant in the living room'''")<ref>{{Cite web|title=the elephant in the (living) room {{!}} meaning of the elephant in the (living) room in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English {{!}} LDOCE|url=https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/the-elephant-in-the-living-room|access-date=22 September 2020|website=www.ldoceonline.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=World Wide Words: Elephant in the room|url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ele2.htm|access-date=22 September 2020|website=World Wide Words|language=en-gb}}</ref> is a [[metaphor]]ical [[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 [[conflict management|discuss]] because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable and is personally, socially, or politically embarrassing, controversial, inflammatory, or dangerous. The metaphorical elephant represents an obvious problem or difficult situation that people do not want to talk about.<ref name=cam>{{cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/elephant-in-the-room|website=cambridge.org|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|author=Anon|year=2023|title=An elephant in the room: idiom, informal}}</ref><ref>Cambridge University Press. (2009). [https://books.google.com/books?id=pqlRO2jdI2gC&pg=PA298&dq= ''Cambridge academic content dictionary,'' p. 298.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Elephant in the room Idiom Definition – Grammarist|url=https://grammarist.com/idiom/elephant-in-the-room/|access-date=22 September 2020|website=Grammarist|date=24 September 2015}}</ref>

It is based on the idea and thought that something as conspicuous as an [[elephant]] can appear to be overlooked in codified social interactions and that the sociology and psychology of [[Repression (psychology)|repression]] also operates on the macro scale.

Various languages around the world have words that describe similar concepts.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

==Origins==
In 1814, [[Ivan Krylov]] (1769{{ndash}}1844), poet and fabulist, wrote a fable entitled "The Inquisitive Man", which tells of a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things, but fails to notice an elephant. The phrase became proverbial.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Dostoyevsky|first1=Fyodor|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/31657709|title=Demons: a novel in three parts|date=1994|publisher=Vintage|others=trans. Pevear, Richard, 1943-, Volokhonsky, Larissa.|isbn=0-09-914001-2|location=London|pages=718 and 38, respectively|oclc=31657709}}</ref> [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]] in his novel ''[[Demons (Dostoevsky novel)|Demons]]'' wrote, "Belinsky was just like Krylov's Inquisitive Man, who didn't notice the elephant in the museum...."<ref name=":0" />

The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' gives the first recorded use of the phrase, as a [[simile]], in ''[[The New York Times]]'' on 20 June 1959: "Financing schools has become a problem about equal to having an elephant in the living room. It's so big you just can't ignore it."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50073129?| title=OED, Draft Additions June 2006: elephant, n.| publisher=OUP| access-date=11 November 2008}}</ref> According to the website the Phrase Finder, the first known use in print is from 1952.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Martin|first=Gary|title='The elephant in the room' - the meaning and origin of this phrase|url=https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/elephant-in-the-room.html|access-date=22 September 2020|website=Phrasefinder|language=en}}</ref>

This idiomatic expression may have been in general use much earlier than 1959. For example, the phrase appears 44 years earlier in the pages of the British ''Journal of Education'' in 1915. The sentence was presented as a trivial illustration of a question British schoolboys would be able to answer, e.g., "Is there an elephant in the class-room?"<ref>''Journal of Education''. Vol. 37 (1915), p. 288.</ref>

The first widely disseminated conceptual reference was a story written by [[Mark Twain]] in 1882, "[[The Stolen White Elephant]]", which recounts the inept, far-ranging activities of detectives trying to find an elephant that was right on the spot after all. This story, combined with Dostoyevsky's [[Ironic process theory|white bear]], may have been on [[Jerome Frank]]'s mind when he wrote in his dissent in ''United States v. Antonelli Fireworks'' (1946)<ref name="Antonelli">{{cite web |title=''United States v. Antonelli Fireworks Co.'', 155 F.2d 631 (2d Cir. 1946) |date=2 May 1946 |website=Justia |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/155/631/1563658/}}</ref> and again in dissent in ''United States v. Leviton'' (1951)<ref>{{cite web |title=''United States v. Leviton et al'', 193 F.2d 848 (2d Cir. 1951) |date=30 November 1951 |website=Justia |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/193/848/349489/}}</ref> of "the Mark Twain story of the little boy who was told to stand in a corner and not to think of a white elephant."

The phrase may also be a response to philosopher Alfred North Whitehead's 1929 description<ref>Process and Reality, p. 6</ref> of the validity of immediate experience: "Sometimes we see an elephant, and sometimes we do not. The result is that an elephant, when present, is noticed."

In 1935, comedian [[Jimmy Durante]] starred on Broadway in the [[Billy Rose]] Broadway musical ''[[Jumbo (musical)|Jumbo]]'', in which a police officer stops him as he leads a live elephant and asks, "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante's reply, "What elephant?" was a regular show-stopper. Durante reprises the piece in the 1962 film version of the play, ''[[Billy Rose's Jumbo]]''.

==Usage==
The term refers to a question, problem, solution, or controversial issue which is obvious to everyone who knows about the situation, but which is deliberately ignored because to do otherwise would cause great embarrassment, sadness, or arguments, or is simply taboo. The idiom can imply a [[value judgment]] that the issue ought to be discussed openly, or it can simply be an acknowledgment that the issue is there and not going to go away by itself.

The term is often used to describe an issue that involves a social [[taboo]] or which generates disagreement, such as race, religion, politics, homosexuality, mental illness, or suicide. It is applicable when a subject is emotionally charged, and the people who might have spoken up decide that it is probably best avoided.<ref>{{cite book |last=Palta |first=Namrata |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1245818231 |title=Spoken English: A detailed and simplified course for learning spoken English |date=2007 |publisher=Lotus Press |page=95 |isbn=978-81-8382-052-3|location=New Delhi |oclc=1245818231}}</ref>

The idiom is commonly used in addiction recovery terminology to describe the reluctance of friends and family of an addicted person to discuss the person's problem, thus aiding the person's denial. Especially in reference to alcohol abuse, the idiom is sometimes coupled with that of the [[Seeing pink elephants|pink elephant]], "the pink elephant in the room."{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

The expression has also been used as a metaphorical idiom in Spanish. In 1994, the [[8000 Process]] was a legal investigation of a Colombian presidential campaign. There were accusations that the campaign of Colombian Liberal Party candidate [[Ernesto Samper]] was partially funded with drug money from the [[Cali Cartel]]. Insisting on his innocence, Samper stated that if drug money had entered the presidential campaign, it had done so "behind his back". [[Pedro Rubiano Sáenz|Cardinal Pedro Rubiano]], a leader of Colombia's [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]], stated in an interview that not knowing that drug money financed part of the presidential campaign was similar to not noticing "an elephant entering one's living room".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.canalrcn.com/noticias/index.php?op=info&idC=28266&idP=119&idS=742|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928004609/http://www.canalrcn.com/noticias/index.php?op=info&idC=28266&idP=119&idS=742|url-status=dead|title=Canal RCN - Noticias RCN<!-- Bot generated title -->|archivedate=28 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?IdArt=30217|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910055609/http://www.semana.com/wf_InfoArticulo.aspx?IdArt=30217|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 September 2012|title=Articulo Archivado FRASES DEL AÑO<!-- Bot generated title -->}}</ref> Since then, the events that led to drug money financing the "Samper for President" campaign have been referred to as "The Elephant."

The title of [[Alan Clarke]]'s 1989 television film ''[[Elephant (1989 film)|Elephant]]'' references the term. This was in turn influential in the naming of [[Gus Van Sant]]'s [[Elephant (2003 film)|2003 film of the same name]], although Van Sant thought [[blind men and an elephant|a different expression]] was being referenced. 

Graffiti artist [[Banksy]], in his 2006 Los Angeles show [[Barely Legal (Banksy)|Barely Legal]], included a live elephant painted to match the wallpaper as a literal presentation of the concept.<ref>{{cite web | last=Bowes | first=Peter | title='Guerrilla artist' Banksy hits LA | website=BBC NEWS | date=September 14, 2006 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5344676.stm | access-date=March 22, 2025}}</ref>

[[Alexandra Burke]]'s 2012 single "[[Elephant (Alexandra Burke song)|Elephant]]" also uses the concept. Burke incorrectly claimed to have brought the phrase to the United Kingdom from the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://metro.co.uk/2021/11/20/alexandra-burke-finally-addresses-iconic-elephant-in-the-room-meme-15638449/|title=Alexandra Burke finally addresses her iconic 'elephant in the room' meme|first=Emily|last=Bashforth|date=20 November 2021|work=Metro|access-date=17 March 2022}}</ref> 

Terry Kettering's named his poem ''The Elephant in the Room''.<ref>Mauk, Kristen L. (2006).  {{Google books|iYjr3KvUXyYC|''Gerontological Nursing: Competencies for Care,'' p. 808.|page=808}}; "The Elephant in the Room," [http://www.chums.info/ChumsMagazine.pdf ''CHUMS Magazine,'' p. 23.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721192753/http://www.chums.info/ChumsMagazine.pdf |date=21 July 2011 }} May 2003.</ref> In a November 2013 edition of [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine, New Jersey governor [[Chris Christie]] was labeled as the "Elephant in the Room" on the cover page.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/744/chris-christie-was-born-to-run/ |magazine=Time |access-date=23 October 2023 |title=Chris Christie Was Born to Run |date=18 November 2013 }}</ref> 

===Similar===
A variation is the phrase "elephant in the corner" which is infrequently used to the same effect.<ref>[http://aapnews.aappublications.org/cgi/content/citation/aapnews.20100508-4v1  "‘Elephant in the corner of the living room’: Discrimination common, associated with depression among minority children,"] ''AAPNews'' ([[American Academy of Pediatrics]]). 8 May 2010; O'Connor, P. (2008) [http://ulir.ul.ie/handle/10344/412  "The Elephant in the Corner: Gender and Policies Related to Higher Education,"] ''Administration'' [Institute of Public Administration of Ireland] 56(1), pp. 85-110.</ref>

Logician and philosopher [[Ludwig Wittgenstein]] used an example of a rhinoceros in the room to show either the impossibility of disproving negative existential statements or perhaps a more subtle philosophical point.<ref>MacDonald, JF (1993) [http://www.rhinoresourcecenter.com/index.php?act=refs&CODE=note_detail&id=1165251908 "Russel, Wittgenstein and the problem of the rhinoceros"] ''Southern Journal of Philosophy'' 31(4) 409-24.</ref>

==See also==
{{div col}}
* {{annotated link|800-pound gorilla}}
* {{annotated link|Awareness}}
* {{annotated link|Blind men and an elephant}}
* {{annotated link|Elephant joke}}
* {{annotated link|Elephant test}}
* [[Ironic process theory]] ("Don't think of a pink elephant")
* {{annotated link|Nigger in the woodpile}}
* {{annotated link|Open secret}}
* {{annotated link|Ostrich effect}}
* {{annotated link|Polite fiction}}
* [[Seeing pink elephants]]
* {{annotated link|Skeleton in the closet (idiom)}}
* {{annotated link|Taboo}}
* ''{{annotated link|The Elephant in the Living Room (film)|The Elephant in the Living Room}}'', 2011 documentary
* {{annotated link|The Emperor's New Clothes}}
* ''[[The Invisible Gorilla]]'',  2010 book by Christopher Chabris & Daniel Simons
* {{annotated link|Third rail of politics}}
* {{annotated link|Unsaid}}
* ''[[Voldemort effect]]'', a term popularized by [[Majid Nawaz]] with similar meaning
* {{annotated link|White elephant}}
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* Cambridge University Press. (2009). ''Cambridge academic content dictionary'' (Paul Heacock, editor). New York: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-521-87143-3}}/{{ISBN|978-0-521-69196-3}}; {{OCLC|183392531}}
*Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. (1994). ''Demons: a novel in three parts'' (Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, translators). London: Vintage. {{ISBN|0-09-914001-2}}
* __________. (1915). ''Journal of education,'' Vol. 37. Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]. {{OCLC|1713625}}
* Palta, Namrata. (2007). ''Spoken English: a Detailed and Simplified Course for Learning Spoken English.'' New Delhi: Lotus Press. {{ISBN|978-8-183-82052-3}}; {{OCLC|297508439}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (OALD), Word of the Month: [http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/wotm/wotm_archive/elephant_in_the_room?cc=global Elephant in the room]

[[Category:English-language idioms]]
[[Category:1950s neologisms]]
[[Category:1959 quotations]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to elephants]]
[[Category:Etiquette]]