White elephant explained

For other uses see White elephant (disambiguation).

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 equivalent utility or value relative to its capital (acquisition) and/or operational (maintenance) costs.^[1]

Historical background

See also: White elephant (animal).

The term derives from the sacred white elephants kept by Southeast Asian monarchs in Burma, Thailand (Siam), Laos and Cambodia.^[2] To possess a white elephant was regarded—and is still regarded in Thailand and Burma—as a sign that the monarch reigned with justice and power, and that the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity. The opulence expected of anyone who owned a beast of such stature was great. Monarchs often exemplified their possession of white elephants in their formal titles (e.g., Hsinbyushin, and the third monarch of the Konbaung dynasty).^[3] Because the animals were considered sacred and laws protected them from labor, receiving a gift of a white elephant from a monarch was simultaneously a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because the animal was sacred and a sign of the monarch's favour, and a curse because the recipient now had an animal that was expensive to maintain, could not be given away, and could not be put to much practical use.

In the West, the term "white elephant", relating to an expensive burden that fails to meet expectations, was first used in the 17th century and became widespread in the 19th century.^[4] According to one source it was popularized following P. T. Barnum's experience with an elephant named Toung Taloung that he billed as the "Sacred White Elephant of Burma". After much effort and great expense, Barnum finally acquired the animal from the King of Siam only to discover that his "white elephant" was actually dirty grey in color with a few pink spots.^[5]

The expressions "white elephant" and "gift of a white elephant" came into common use in the middle of the nineteenth century.^[6] The phrase was attached to "white elephant swaps" and "white elephant sales" in the early twentieth century.^[7] Many church bazaars held "white elephant sales" where donors could unload unwanted bric-à-brac, generating profit from the phenomenon that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and the term has continued to be used in this context.^[8]

Modern usage

In modern usage, the term now often refers in addition to an extremely expensive building project that fails to deliver on its function or becomes very costly to maintain.^{[9] [10]} Examples include prestigious but uneconomic infrastructure projects such as airports,^[11] dams,^[12] bridges,^{[13] [14]} shopping malls^[15] and football stadiums.^{[16] [17]}

Rail transport projects are also sometimes deemed white elephants. In Japan, it was feared that the Yurikamome at Odaiba would end up as a multibillion-yen white elephant,^[18] . In Singapore, paper cutouts of white elephants were placed next to the completed but unopened Buangkok MRT station on the North East Line in 2005 to protest its non-opening. (The station eventually opened the following year.)^[19]

The American Oakland Athletics baseball team has used a white elephant as a symbol and usually its main or alternate logo since 1902, originally in sarcastic defiance of John McGraw's 1902 characterization of the new team as a "white elephant".^[20] The Al Maktoum International Airport on the outskirts of Dubai has also been named a white elephant.^[21]

The term has also been applied to outdated or under-performing military projects like the U.S. Navy's Alaska-class cruiser.^{[22] [23]} In Austria, the term "white elephant" means workers who have little or no use, but cannot be dismissed.^[24]

A former Polish astronomical observatory built in the Carpathian Mountains (now part of Ukraine) in 1938 is nicknamed White Elephant due to its appearance.

See also

• White elephant gift exchange
• Hills Like White Elephants
• Bridge to nowhere
• Escalation of commitment (sunk cost fallacy)
• Pork barrel
• Abul-Abbas

Further reading

• Book: Jeffrey A. McNeely . Paul Spencer Sochaczewski . Paul Spencer Sochaczewski . 1995 . Soul of the Tiger: Searching for Nature's Answers in Southeast Asia . Chapter 9: Ganesh the Potbellied Elephant God . https://books.google.com/books?id=U8wlr690kacC&pg=PA91 . 91–112 . Honolulu . University of Hawaii Press . Reprint . 9780824816698 . 299810414. Contains a chapter on the white elephant in Southeast Asia.
• Book: Paul Spencer Sochaczewski . Paul Spencer Sochaczewski . 2008 . The Sultan and the Mermaid Queen: Surprising Asian People, Places, and Things That Go Bump in the Night . 69–164 . Singapore . Editions Didier Millet . 9789814217743 . 259252939. Contains a long chapter on how Burmese generals tried to use the white elephant to consolidate power, also looks at the cosmological origins of the animal.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Home : Oxford English Dictionary . https://web.archive.org/web/20130510064252/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/white%2Belephant . dead . 10 May 2013 . oxforddictionaries.com . 25 April 2013.
2. http://www.thailandelephant.org/en/royalstable.html "Royal Elephant Stable"
3. Leider. Jacques P.. December 2011. A Kingship by Merit and Cosmic Investiture. Journal of Burma Studies. 15. 2. 10.1353/jbs.2011.0012. 153995925.
4. Book: Ammer. Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition. 2013. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 978-0547677538.
5. Book: Harding. Les. Elephant Story: Jumbo and P.T. Barnum Under the Big Top. 1999. McFarland. Jefferson, N.C.. 0786406321. 110.
6. Web site: Brown. Peter Jensen. Two-and-a-half Idioms – the History and Etymology of 'White Elephants'. Early Sports 'n' Pop-Culture History Blog. 23 June 2014. 25 June 2014. 1 March 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210301021211/https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2014/06/two-and-half-idioms-history-and.html. live.
7. Web site: Brown. Peter Jensen. Two-and-a-Half More Idioms – "White Elephants" and Yankee Swaps. Early Sports 'n' Pop-Culture History Blog. 28 June 2014. 3 July 2014. 8 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201108110506/https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2014/06/two-and-half-more-idioms-white.html. live.
8. Roberta Jeeves, White Elephant Rules. .
9. News: White elephants and worthwhile causes. 5 June 2003. news.bbc.co.uk. 12 September 2020. 23 January 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210123061443/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2872499.stm. live.
10. News: The 10 greatest white elephants | David Shariatmadari. David. Shariatmadari. The Guardian. 18 July 2013. www.theguardian.com. 4 January 2017. 28 July 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220728070138/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/18/white-elephants-10-greatest-in-tempo. live.
11. News: Govan . Fiona . Spain's white elephants – how country's airports lie empty . The Daily Telegraph . 5 October 2011 . 7 January 2013 . London . 25 August 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120825213045/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8807723/Spains-white-elephants-how-countrys-airports-lie-empty.html . live .
12. Web site: Dams as white elephants . 14 April 2011 . 2 October 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111002141159/http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/African%20Dams%20Briefings%202006.pdf . live .
13. News: State's Longest Bridge Nears Completion, But Budget Cuts May Limit Army's Ability to Use It. November 8, 2013. KUAC. Tim Ellis. August 5, 2014. 4 October 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171004085043/http://fm.kuac.org/post/state-s-longest-bridge-nears-completion-budget-cuts-may-limit-army-s-ability-use-it. live.
14. News: Russian bridge of trouble opens to world . The New Zealand Herald.
15. Web site: Adam . Taylor . New South China Mall: Tour A Ghost Mall . Business Insider . 5 March 2013 . 14 March 2013 . 9 March 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130309020001/http://www.businessinsider.com/new-south-china-mall-tour-a-ghost-mall-2013-3?op=1 . live .
16. http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1734573,00.html Guardian Online
17. Web site: World Cup: Are South Africa's stadiums white elephants? – The Sentinel . Tucsonsentinel.com . 7 July 2010 . 14 April 2011 . 8 November 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101108033534/http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/sports/report/070710_worldcup_stadiums . live .
18. Web site: Iwata . Kazuaki . June 1998 . Tokyo's New Waterfront Transit System . Japan Rail and Transport Review . 14 May 2023 . 7 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221207003316/http://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr16/pdf/f15_iwata.pdf . live .
19. Web site: Residents Bring Up 'White Elephant' Buangkok MRT During Minister's Visit . SafeTrolley . 7 November 2020 . 2022-08-02 . 3 July 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220703092740/https://www.safetrolley.com/residents-bring-up-white-elephant-buangkok-mrt/ . live .
20. Web site: The Elephant in the Room . John Odell . Baseball Hall of Fame . April 18, 2021 . 18 April 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210418203249/https://baseballhall.org/discover/elephant-in-the-room . live .
21. Web site: After 'Boris Island': 10 other airport follies. 12 February 2022. 30 June 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220630165830/https://www.flightglobal.com/after-boris-island-10-other-airport-follies/114351.article. live.
22. Book: Morison, Samuel Loring . Morison, Samuel Eliot . Polmar, Norman . Illustrated Directory of Warships of the World: From 1860 to the Present . ABC-CLIO . 2005 . 1-85109-857-7 . 85.
23. Web site: Looking more like white elephant . Agence France-Presse . 14 January 2011 . 17 April 2011 . 17 March 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110317131531/http://www.defencetalk.com/f-35-looking-more-like-white-elephant-31347/ . live .
24. [:de:Weißer Elefant#Redewendung]