Street voices
Hugues
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United States
"Addressing the elephant in the room Something you say when you want to talk about the big important thing that just cannot be ignored that everyone is thinking about Man I want to go hang out. I won't go out for drinks tonight Can you call up Daniel see if he's down and before you say anything? Let me just address the elephant in the room I know he just lost his wife. I I just want to make sure he's doing. Okay, show him a good time, you know"
What it means
Means bringing up the big obvious issue everyone can feel but nobody has said out loud yet. You use it to cut through the weird tension and talk about the thing hogging all the air in the room. It can be awkward, caring, blunt, or all three at once, which is probably why the phrase has stuck around so well.
Usage examples
"Man, before we start pretending this barbecue is normal, let’s address the elephant in the room, your cousin set the shed on fire and nobody’s mentioned it yet."
"Halfway through the team lunch someone finally addressed the elephant in the room and asked why the whole office was being relocated next month."
Where it comes from
The elephant is so huge that pretending not to see it is absurd, which is the whole joke. Popular since the early 1900s, the phrase names the glaring issue everyone feels but politely steps around.
Editors of this term
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