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Where did the phrase 'white elephant' come from?
What does “white elephant” mean?
Where did the term 'White Elephant Party' come from?
Why did the king of Siam give a white elephant?
What's the meaning of the phrase 'A white elephant'? Originally ‘white elephants’ were simply that – elephants that were white. Later, the expression came to mean ‘a burdensome possession – one that is more trouble than it is worth’.
Nov 29, 2019 · The term white elephant party first appeared in a joke published in 1907 in Nebraska's The Columbus Journal, according to blogger Peter Jensen Brown. “A shocking thing happened...
Nov 23, 2022 · By Jennifer Ashley Wright. Nov. 23, 2022. Legend has it that, when the King of Siam wanted to punish one of his courtiers, he did not kill the offender. All he had to do was gift him a white...
- Jennifer Ashley Wright
Apr 26, 2021 · The origins of the phrase come from Siam (modern-day Thailand). White or very pale elephants were so highly prized that when one was discovered, it immediately became the possession of the King. Such was the reverence held for the animal in Siam that it appeared on the nation’s flag until 1917.
A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, construction project, scheme, business venture, facility, etc. considered expensive but without ...
Mar 13, 2015 · Sarah Amato examines one particular case of an elephant given the name Toung Taloung, who was promoted by Phineas T. Barnum as a “white” elephant from exotic Burma and Siam in 1884, and finds a fascinating “episode of trickery, racism, and advertising.”
Dec 6, 2022 · The reporter Jennifer Ashley Wright traces its history back to the 1890s, when the citizens of Delphos, Ohio, went all in on holiday “swap parties.” Read entire article at New York Times.
