An Elephant of a Different Color

An Elephant of a Different Color An Elephant of a Different Color An Elephant of a Different Color By Maeve Maddox The word elephant is one of my favorites. I love the magnificent creature to which it refers, and it’s fun to say. English has several metaphorical expressions that refer to elephants. pink elephants: hallucinations supposedly experienced by those who have drunk to excess white elephant: a possession of little use that is costly to maintain; property that is difficult to sell The expression is usually explained by citing a king of Siam who used to make a present of a white elephant to courtiers whom he wished to ruin. White elephants were considered sacred, so they couldn’t be put to work, and they were costly to care for. The term is used in the real estate industry to refer to overpriced properties belonging to celebrities: â€Å"what in the industry are called ‘white elephants’–properties that are rare, large, expensive and hard to move.† white elephant sale: a rummage sale A rummage sale provides the opportunity to get rid of useless objects by selling them to others who must then take care of them. rogue elephant: a vicious dangerous elephant that lives apart from the herd. The term rogue elephant is not metaphorical, but one use of the word rogue derives from it. In the essay â€Å"Shooting an Elephant,† Orwell explains the difference between a rogue elephant and a tame bull elephant experiencing must. (Musth or must is a periodic condition in bull elephants characterized by highly aggressive behavior.) The tame elephant will be violent for a time, but then return to a docile state. During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, a campaign aide described Sarah Palin as â€Å"going rogue†; Palin later used the expression as a book title. to see the elephant: to go on an adventure; to gain experience of life Young men leaving home to seek wealth in the California gold fields said they were â€Å"going to see the elephant.† When their dreams didn’t pan out, and they returned home empty-handed, they said they’d â€Å"seen the elephant.† The expression probably originated from much earlier times when elephants were an extremely rare sight, and people who wanted to see one had to undertake an arduous, adventurous journey. the elephant in the room: a serious topic that everyone is aware of, but which no one wishes to talk about openly According to the Ngram Viewer, â€Å"elephant in the room† was in use as early as 1859, but its climb to its present popularity began in the 1980s. So ubiquitous has it become, speakers are running variations on it, talking about the â€Å"big elephant in the room,† the â€Å"ginormous elephant in the room,† the â€Å"pink elephant in the room,† the â€Å"white elephant in the room,† and even the â€Å"blue elephant in the room.† Sometimes the variations are meant to be clever, like calling a pink mansion difficult to sell, a â€Å"pink elephant,† or calling the problem of pornography and cursing a â€Å"blue elephant,† because cursing is said to turn the air blue. Sometimes the variations seem the result of mere confusion. For example, the adjective pink is added so often as to suggest that the association of â€Å"pink elephants† with delirium tremens has been forgotten. For example, Actually, if your organization is currently going through a change,  employees and customers are probably talking about it as you read this. So it would be best if you addressed that â€Å"pink elephant†Ã‚  in the room and nip that â€Å"water cooler† talk in the bud as soon as possible! While it might be the pink elephant in the room, it is important to point out the increased likelihood, or at least temptation, of corruption when the teacher is administering both the pretest and post-test. (This is from an article that suggests that teachers may be cheating when administering standardized tests.) The meaning of the elephant in the room seems to be slipping away. At a writing conference, I heard an author refer to Amazon.com as â€Å"the elephant in the room,† not in the sense of something not to be talked about, but as â€Å"the largest presence† in publishing. The once vivid expression â€Å"the elephant in the room† has become so clichà ©d that writers who can’t come up with a new metaphor to express the idea would do better to say, â€Å"the problem no one wants to acknowledge.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Beautiful and Ugly Words"Latter," not "Ladder"Shore It Up

Delectables Corp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Delectables Corp - Essay Example Current financial data indicate that Delectables is losing its US market share to its major competitor Prince’s Fare. In this situation, even a mild flaw would severely affect Delectables’ business interests in the US market. The company has a recent history of food safety problems despite the fact that none of them were confirmed. Unsurprisingly, food poising issues (Salmonella poisoning) would damage the market reputation of a food company and hence the Delectables may lose its further business to Prince’s Fare. Although the firm’s newly hired Quality Control Director has suggested comprehensive measures to the upper management to ensure the food safety, his supervisors refused to accept the suggestions arguing that they were too expensive. In addition, workers are indifferent to the new quality control system and are not willing to abide by the instructions given by the QC Director. In order to satisfy their personal financial interests, factory employe es including foremen clear even contaminated products for the market. This practice increases the chances of food safety issues, which in turn would impact the market stature of the organization. In addition, the Georgia plant has poor infrastructural facilities and hence its food products are exposed to contaminants including Salmonella. Once the Delectables’ goodwill is affected by food poisoning issues, the demand for its products would decline in the market and ultimately this situation would hurt the interests of company stakeholders, particularly shareholders. Therefore, I would not sign the quality control form. However, whistle blowing can have some risks too. This practice is likely to contribute to the financial burden of the company which is already challenged by financial shortages. Sometimes, whistle blowing may end up in even winding up of the Delectables’ Georgia plant. As a result, thousands of employees may be laid off. However, it is vital to prioriti ze the interests of the firm’s stockholders. Referring to the stockholder theory which â€Å"supports the notion of the manager of a business being the agent for the stockholders of the company† (as qtd in Dunham-Taylor and Inczuk, 257), it is inevitable to blow the whistle and thereby to add to shareholder values. The risks of blowing whistle would be outweighed by its benefits. Evidently, lack of effective control mechanisms is the root cause of the food safety and quality control problem at Delectables. From the case scenario it is clear that QC Director has designed comprehensive procedures to separate between pure, contaminated, and mildly contaminated food products. However, factory workers are unwilling to follow these procedures and they clear all the batches of products for the market. It is observed that QC Director has little influence on factory workers and therefore he fails to ensure that quality control measures are executed effectively. It is the duty o f the QC Director to make sure that the organization completely complies with the stated quality control guidelines. In addition, the upper management does not pay particular attention to the factory’s product quality; rather it focuses only on financial returns. Currently, the firm’s foremen – who are responsible for clearing the food products for the market – are evaluated and remunerated on the basis of number of finished product boxes per day. Therefore, foremen try to increase the number of product boxes finished a day but not to improve the product quality. In order to address this issue, it is advisable for the management to pay foremen on an hourly or monthly basis. Similarly, the management should promote employee participation using the tools of financial incentives or other strategies in order to change their attitude

Environmental Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Environmental Science - Essay Example Denver has taken many initiatives in the past in an effort to become self-sufficient in terms of energy needs. For example, Greenprint Denver promoted the development of a joint group of businesses, and city departments. This group was called the Neighborhood Energy Action Partnership (NEAP). The objective of NEAP is to make use of the local non-profits so that community outreach can be organized. Providing the residents with energy audits is a potential way to increase their awareness and motivation to save energy. Denver should install subsidized smart meters to lower their cost for the residents and hence, enhance their adoption. The best way for Denver to reduce its carbon footprint as well as the demand for fuel is by introducing the public bike-sharing system, regulation of traffic jams and reduction of carbon emissions being two of the major requirements of sustainable development. The bike system saves on gasoline through its link with buses and trains so that a whole web of substitute transportation is spinned in Denver. This builds resilience into the transport system so that the reliance on one type of transportation is reduced. Presently, over 400 bikes have been located at 50 bike stations in the public areas to ensure maximal usability. Success of the Denver Bike Sharing program can be estimated from the fact that more than 96000 single rides have been recorded along with a procurement of over 1765 yearly memberships (Peterson, Matthews and Weingard 17). A significant population of the residents of Denver acquires the bikes on per-day basis and pays the fee accordingly. In order to increase the popularity of energy-conservation programs among the residents, there needs to be a concerted effort made by Denver. This can be achieved by creating awareness in the masses through demonstration of the usability of such programs on TV, schools and all

Corporate risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Corporate risk management - Essay Example It also aims at keeping exposure to an acceptable level in a cost-effective way. As the nature of risk is highly varying in nature depending upon the context and corporate environment, the case study of any important disaster and the risk management strategies followed before the happening of such incident may be of high relevance. This will certainly through a light on best alternate risk management measures which would have minimized the exposure to the risk. Keeping these points in view, Chernobyl disaster which devastated several millions of human lives has been selected for the case study. Attempt has been made to find out the causes and consequences of disaster, risk management measures taken and lessons learnt from this incident. One of the major objectives of the study is to remember the tragedy of Chernobyl and to make risk management plan in order to improve security of all nuclear power plants all over the world and this horror and pain are not to be repeated. The biggest disaster experienced in nuclear power plant situated in Chernobyl on 25th April, 1986 is named as Chernobyl disaster. It happened due to ill made technology and resulted in killing of several thousands of people. The Chernobyl power station is located near the Belarus-Ukraine border and four kilometres away from the town of Pripyat, which was built especially for the power station employees. At the time of the accident, 45 000 people were housed there. The accident took place in reactor no. 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power during a test. The operating staff wanted to test whether the turbines could produce sufficient energy to keep the coolant pumps running in the event of a loss of power until the emergency diesel generator was activated. The safety systems were intentionally switched off to prevent the test run of the reactor being interrupted. For conducting the test, the reactor had to be powered down to

Why people marry, and what follows marriages or more interesting WHY Research Paper

Why people marry, and what follows marriages or more interesting WHY PEOPLE CHEAT - Research Paper Example This however, has seemed to diminish in recent years. The high rates of divorce and empty shell marriages leave a person wondering just how important this institution is nowadays. Cohabitation, single parent families, separated spouses or even divorced couples are now common to find. This report aims to focus on both the causes and effects and the situations and circumstances that lead to the spouses cheating in marriage. However, there are various causes as to why this trend is increasing and how these affect us. The way these broken families affect the individuals, the family, and the community as a whole is farfetched and the effects are not just for the time being. The stress in our lives today is a major cause for everyone going into their own shell and becoming isolated to a certain level, which results in marriages breaking down and people subjecting to cheating on their spouse. The number of people found with having extra marital affairs has increased in the last decade. The reasons for this may be numerous (Chappel, pp. 170). Often either of the spouses either is unhappy with the marriage or feels suffocated and frustrated. In the fast-paced world today, people have become more self-absorbed and the time to bond and spend a healthy time together has greatly diminished. When one of the spouses is feeling lonely, suffocated, or feels that the relationship is not giving a positive outcome, it results as one of the spouses feeling the need to cheat or seek that attention from an outer source (Chappel, pp. 170). There are times when the person vents out to a friend either of the opposite sex or a colleague or someone who has gone through a similar incident and the bond develops and sometimes leads to an extra marital affair. In some instances, after the couple has a child, the woman’s time is absorbed in the care taking of the baby, which causes the couple to start spending lesser and lesser time together. The man may result in feeling that he is not getting any attention and feels neglected. In such cases, he may start seeking that love and attention from an outer source. Sometimes, the reason may just be to gain the attention of the spouse, or it may actually be that the spouse gets involved in someone else, which gradually leads to problems, fights and may end up in separation or divorce (Meyer, 2001). Another reason why people may cheat in marriages is the â€Å"lack of intimacy† (Meyer, 2001). If one of the spouses does not show interest in sex or withholds it, the other might get frustrated and seek for the fulfillment of that pleasure elsewhere. It is therefore essential that both of them take care of each other’s needs and fulfill them in order to provide that level of satisfaction that they would be compelled to find elsewhere as a result if they do not get it within the marriage. In some cases, one of the spouses may stop giving attention to their physical appearance and that attractive instinct (Swartz, pp. 145). The person dealing with the stresses of life or business or any other aspect might become involved in tension, exhaustion or depression and stops giving the attention to the looks or the qualities that attract the spouse. When this need lacks at home, it results in the person starting to find other people attractive and start taking interest towards them because that quality begins to lack in their own partner. This also leads to cheating and the marriage becoming a problematic arena. Sometimes, this problem might arise due to natural problems and might not be the intentional or deliberate act of one person. The pressures and strains of the marriage relationship sometimes cause fights and

Outline Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Outline - Coursework Example Industrialization, which picked up drastically in the 19th century, is the key factor that has increased the impacts of global warming (Maslin, 2007). Some scientists have argued that global warming stopped the moment increase of anthropogenic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere seized being the cause of the warming. These scientists argue that the activities thereafter are a mere continuation of the natural cycles in the previous years (Maslin, 2007). The scientific point of view towards global warming causes has become questionable for the past couple of years. This is mainly because of the contradicting effects that have occurred. For instance, the fact that global warming occurs due to emission of excess carbon dioxide is questionable, since global warming effects have occurred in countries with low industrialization activities (Maslin, 2007). Most of the G8 countries have come out strongly in campaigns to eradicate effects of global warming through the enactment of legislation that control emission of gases into the air. Governments have even put aside resources in national budgets specifically to control global warming and its effects (Maslin, 2007). Scientists are still looking for solutions to controlling global warming, since, despite implementing some of the suggestions, the world has still experienced massive impacts of global warming (Maslin, 2007). In the present world, the percentage of global warming from man-made emissions exceeds that form solar activity. This calls for the need for governments to control emissions by all means available to them (Maslin, 2007). Global warming is a world crisis that needs the willingness of all individuals to control it. Unless all countries come together in the war against the effects of global warming, the world should be ready to suffer from many other attacks form the environmental

Why people marry, and what follows marriages or more interesting WHY Research Paper

Why people marry, and what follows marriages or more interesting WHY PEOPLE CHEAT - Research Paper Example This however, has seemed to diminish in recent years. The high rates of divorce and empty shell marriages leave a person wondering just how important this institution is nowadays. Cohabitation, single parent families, separated spouses or even divorced couples are now common to find. This report aims to focus on both the causes and effects and the situations and circumstances that lead to the spouses cheating in marriage. However, there are various causes as to why this trend is increasing and how these affect us. The way these broken families affect the individuals, the family, and the community as a whole is farfetched and the effects are not just for the time being. The stress in our lives today is a major cause for everyone going into their own shell and becoming isolated to a certain level, which results in marriages breaking down and people subjecting to cheating on their spouse. The number of people found with having extra marital affairs has increased in the last decade. The reasons for this may be numerous (Chappel, pp. 170). Often either of the spouses either is unhappy with the marriage or feels suffocated and frustrated. In the fast-paced world today, people have become more self-absorbed and the time to bond and spend a healthy time together has greatly diminished. When one of the spouses is feeling lonely, suffocated, or feels that the relationship is not giving a positive outcome, it results as one of the spouses feeling the need to cheat or seek that attention from an outer source (Chappel, pp. 170). There are times when the person vents out to a friend either of the opposite sex or a colleague or someone who has gone through a similar incident and the bond develops and sometimes leads to an extra marital affair. In some instances, after the couple has a child, the woman’s time is absorbed in the care taking of the baby, which causes the couple to start spending lesser and lesser time together. The man may result in feeling that he is not getting any attention and feels neglected. In such cases, he may start seeking that love and attention from an outer source. Sometimes, the reason may just be to gain the attention of the spouse, or it may actually be that the spouse gets involved in someone else, which gradually leads to problems, fights and may end up in separation or divorce (Meyer, 2001). Another reason why people may cheat in marriages is the â€Å"lack of intimacy† (Meyer, 2001). If one of the spouses does not show interest in sex or withholds it, the other might get frustrated and seek for the fulfillment of that pleasure elsewhere. It is therefore essential that both of them take care of each other’s needs and fulfill them in order to provide that level of satisfaction that they would be compelled to find elsewhere as a result if they do not get it within the marriage. In some cases, one of the spouses may stop giving attention to their physical appearance and that attractive instinct (Swartz, pp. 145). The person dealing with the stresses of life or business or any other aspect might become involved in tension, exhaustion or depression and stops giving the attention to the looks or the qualities that attract the spouse. When this need lacks at home, it results in the person starting to find other people attractive and start taking interest towards them because that quality begins to lack in their own partner. This also leads to cheating and the marriage becoming a problematic arena. Sometimes, this problem might arise due to natural problems and might not be the intentional or deliberate act of one person. The pressures and strains of the marriage relationship sometimes cause fights and