Imagine a company performing about the same amount of work as now, but making three times as much money. That can happen when a small company bags its elephant (big company).
Elephants is slang for large institutional investors that can move markets on their own. Elephants have the funds to make high-volume trades.
They Bring Good Fortune
Elephants often represent good fortune. The reason why is lost to time, but any elephant image can be used to signify the coming of good things in a person's life. Additionally, giving someone a gift of an elephant object can be a way of wishing them good luck.
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.
Meaning: A big problem everyone is ignoring or afraid to talk about. Examples: His alcoholism was the elephant in the room. Everyone knew he had a drinking problem but no one said anything.
Synonyms and related words
Something that is difficult or unpleasant to do or deal with. task. burden. necessity.
It is based on the idea/thought that something as conspicuous as an elephant can appear to be overlooked in codified social interactions, and that the sociology/psychology of repression also operates on the macro scale.
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.
the elephant in the room
an obvious problem that no one wants to discuss: I don't want to ask the question, but it is the big elephant in the room.
I have heard that in Columbia, it is a tradition to have three elephants in a room in order to represent good luck: one you bought, one that was given to you and one that you stole. The statues can be made of all types of materials such as glass, ceramic or even wood.
Many cultures regard the elephant as a symbol for protection, harmony, and love.
Elephants represent many things: they're symbols of luck and prosperity, but they are also powerful beings that use their mighty strength to remove obstacles and negative forces. They also represent wisdom, long life, memory and vitality.
Today, the term 'white elephant' denotes any burdensome, expensive and useless possession that is much more trouble than it is worth. The origins of the phrase come from Siam (modern-day Thailand).
: hallucinations arising especially from heavy drinking or use of narcotics. began to see pink elephants.
A baby elephant is called a calf.
Ms. Aniston colorized the idiom, which is usually stated as "the [color-unspecified] elephant in the room." Its meaning: "an important and obvious topic, which everyone present is aware of, but which isn't discussed, as such discussion is considered to be uncomfortable." (Source: The Phrase Finder.)
With that in mind, to "ignore the elephant in the room" would be to disregard, or pay no attention to, the most obvious or significant thing in the room; or in other words, to disregard the most obvious or significant aspect of a (typically controversial or sensitive) topic.
“Like a fly on an elephant's back” is a phrase I like to use to help reframe situations when there's a stressful issue or problem. The stressor is like the fly and we're like the elephant. The stressor is small. We're so much larger and more powerful.
How you think through a process or address a situation is by taking steps. The same truth is in learning. The idiomatic proverb of consuming the elephant is to do something one step at a time, to do something in steps rather than all at once.
It is an elephant, and elephants don't hide well. Plus, ignoring the elephant creates threat in the brain. Research indicates that suppressing an upsetting emotion further activates the threat response. Acknowledging the upset settles the brain.
Often, I will hear people speak about the elephant in the room as if it is a person—but it is not. A person, process, or project may cause issues, but our avoidance ultimately creates the elephant. Your annoying coworker is not an elephant. Your coworker's annoying behavior is not even necessarily the elephant.
The “elephant in the room” is a euphemism for a subject that is glaringly obvious to all but is not mentioned. If you do not address the “elephant in the room” it will trumpet and blunder around causing all sorts of trouble.
1 Answer. A lover and keeper of elephants is called mahout.