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Idiom name for large building and constructions that are not utilized A white elephant outside Yangon in 2013 A white elephant is a possession that its owner can not deal with, and whose expense, especially that of maintenance, runs out proportion to its effectiveness. In weißer elefant , it is a metaphor utilized to describe an object, building task, plan, business endeavor, facility, etc.
Background [modify] A white elephant at the Amarapura Palace in 1855 The British East Africa Business came to regard Uganda as a white elephant when internal conflict made administration of the area impossible. The term stems from the sacred white elephants kept by Southeast Asian emperors in Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
The opulence anticipated of anyone who owned a monster of such stature was excellent. Kings frequently exhibited their ownership of white elephants in their formal titles (e. g., Hsinbyushin, lit. 'Lord of the White Elephant' and the 3rd king of the Konbaung dynasty). Since the animals were thought about sacred and laws secured them from labor, receiving a present of a white elephant from a monarch was at the same time a blessing and a curse.
In the West, the term "white elephant", connecting to a pricey problem that stops working to meet expectations, was first utilized in the 17th century and ended up being prevalent in the 19th century. According to one source it was popularized following P. T. Barnum's experience with an elephant called Toung Taloung that he billed as the "Sacred White Elephant of Burma".
The expressions "white elephant" and "present of a white elephant" entered into typical use in the middle of the 19th century. The expression was connected to "white elephant swaps" and "white elephant sales" in the early twentieth century. Lots of church bazaars held "white elephant sales" where donors might unload unwanted bric-- brac, generating benefit from the phenomenon that "one man's trash is another man's treasure" and the term has continued to be used in this context.
Examples include prestigious but uneconomic facilities jobs such as airports, dams, bridges, going shopping malls and football arenas. The American Oakland Athletics baseball team has utilized a white elephant as a sign and typically its primary or alternate logo because 1902, initially in sarcastic defiance of John Mc, Graw's 1902 characterization of the new team as a "white elephant".