White Elephant
Phrase:
A phrase is a group of words, that should be used together. If we divide it, it doesn't give you the correct meaning. Outwardly, it gives you one meaning, but if we go in-depth and know its real meaning, it should give a different one. The real meaning is totally different from the outward meaning. If we use idioms and phrases in our day-to-day life, it will enrich our language. There are thousands and thousands of idioms and phrases we are having in the English language. From these, today we are going to see "White Elephant". How does the phrase "White elephant" act as a phrase in the English language.
Meaning :
- White Elephant means something is very costly but at the same time, it is completely useless.
- It is very tough to maintain the object as well as that object has no useful purpose
We may get confused after knowing the meaning of the phrase "White Elephant". The question may arise, here, what is the connection between the expensive as well as the useless and White elephant? If we know the origin, it's easy for us to connect them. There is a relationship between the white elephant and its phrasal meaning.
Origin :
Photo by Wolfgang Schlaifer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/elephant-walking-on-grass-field-in-grayscale-photography-6498744/
White Elephants first originated in Southeast Asia. countries like Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Laos, they kept white elephants as their asserts. It was very expensive to maintain it. It represents the power, strength, prosperity, and wealth of their country. So the kings from those countries protected them. They had a separate act for white elephants. In their countries, the white elephants were not allowed to do any labour. If it was transporting some goods from one place to another, the representative of the person should be punished severely. So automatically there was no use of having white elephants in their places.
In those days, if the king gifted a white elephant to a person, it was considered to be a blessing as well curse. It was not so easy to get a white elephant from the king, so automatically it was considered as a blessing. But at the same time, there was no use to have it. Just think, what is the use of it? Because it was a law, that they should not use white elephants for their work. The white elephant maintenance was very costly. They can't give the gifted white elephant to others. That was considered to be a disrespect to the king. So white elephant was precious as well as a useless one.
How to pronounce White elephant?
white - vite
elephant - eh luh fnt
let's check your understanding
- what is a phrase?
- what is the meaning of the phrase "white elephant"?
- why do white elephants consider to be a blessing as well as a curse?
- how were white elephants useless to their owners?
