# The Elf In The Room **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 6, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029 "2021-10-06T23:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/1 "2021-10-06T23:05:57Z")
On WBST, the local NPR station, there was a promo for a story about Indiana’s latest adventure in Gerrymandering. A voice said, “Everybody knows it, but nobody wants to talk about it. _It’s the elf in the room._” The guy surely meant “elephant,” but his mouth got in a hurry. I thought, “Hey, thls could be the start of a new idiom, the elf in the room.” Especially in this time of abbreviated txt-spk. Who’s got time to thumb-type elephant? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/2 "2021-10-06T23:30:25Z")
I would use “The elf in the room” to mean focusing on a trivial(or non-existent) aspect in order to avoid the real issue(s). ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2021, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/3 "2021-10-06T23:33:13Z")
No doubt with Christmas coming up he’s the elf on the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/4 "2021-10-07T10:37:12Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > "_It’s the elf in the room._ ” That one has legs. That’s a good idea. I’m stealing it. The next time I’m trapped in one of those tedious and soporific meetings on office procedural demarcations, rather than trying to remember how to pronounce _[Batrachomyomachia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batrachomyomachia)_, I will be able to use “That’s the elf in the room”. Much obliged. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/5 "2021-10-07T15:52:50Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > No doubt with Christmas coming up he’s the elf on the shelf. A recall a comment where a Mother tells her children the Elf on the Shelf is watching them. Later, one kid asks his Sister, “What is that?” She responds, “An elf in the fireplace”. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/6 "2021-10-08T03:24:43Z")
I’ll use it to the grandwrex. It should be good for a laugh or 3. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/7 "2021-10-08T22:02:03Z")
I just e-mailed Public Radio’s _A Way With Words_ show about The Elf In The Room. I said, “How many instagramming teens even know the old _elephant_ phrase, anyway?” > **[A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language](https://www.waywordradio.org/)** > > Language examined through family, history, and culture: new words, old sayings, slang, word origins, linguistics, dialects, and more. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-elf-in-the-room/952029/8 "2021-10-08T22:26:32Z")
@AskNott I did not know about this NPR program. This will be fun to listen to. Thank you!