Quote
1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.
“It was the elephant in the room; I had to talk about it.”
- Singer Leann Rimes on writing songs about her affair with a married man (Us Weekly)
Definition
1. Definition - Study the definition.
awkward thing no one wants to discuss
2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.
So, you’re at a party. Everything about it seems pretty normal: people are drinking drinks, eating snacks, and flirting with each other. You look around the room. Most of the people are people you recognize. Except, what’s that in the corner of the room? Is that an elephant? That’s pretty weird. And, even more weird, nobody is mentioning that there is an elephant in the room!
OK, so it’s not that likely that an elephant would just show up at a party, and that no one would notice or speak about it. But you’ve probably had an experience where there is something big going on that nobody is discussing. Maybe your friend just got fired from his job, and everyone is afraid to bring it up. Maybe your other friend dyed her hair a crazy shade of green, and she’s just acting like everything is normal. You could say that your friend’s firing, or your other friend’s hair, are elephants in the room. They are major things that are, oddly, going ignored.
This was how LeAnn Rimes felt about her scandalous affair. If she hadn’t written about it on her new album, it really would have been the elephant in the room. Everyone knew about it, so they’d think it was strange that she was keeping silent.
Can you think of a time when you were having a conversation with someone and there was an elephant in the room?
Examples
1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.
“Listen, I know you don’t want to talk about what happened to your face, but it’s the elephant in the room. It can’t be ignored.”
“Nobody wants to talk about the fact that his dad just died. It’s the elephant in the room. “
“Now, that’s really the elephant in the room: She’s singing the loudest, but her voice is the worst, and no one wants to mention it.”