An Islamic friend and coworker asked me what a White Elephant gift exchange is. I explained. Then she asked why it’s called White Elephant. I gave her the ever effective, “I dunno” shrug. Anyone know off hand or will I have to spend my evening with Google?
Off hand I think white elephant refers to something expensive and useless or a failure.
Such as the Millenium Dome in London.
From here: http://www.luckymojo.com/elephant.html :
…the so-called “white elephants” of Thailand. Custom dictated that this rare race of pale-skinned elephants could only be owned by members of the royal family – and American newspaper and magazine accounts of the period made much of the fact that the animals were expensive to maintain. It was even claimed that the King of Thailand was straining his treasury to keep his white elephants fed – and the term “white elephant” came to mean an unwanted knick-knack of which one cannot dispose.
Google on white elephant origin for more
Very helpful. Thanks!
Avatars of the God Ganesh?
I had heard a similar story, but of Indian[subcontinent] origin. Since the elephants could not be put to work, taking care of them was very expensive. If some potentate, rajah or whomever wanted to punish a courtier, he “gifted” the soon-to-be unfortunate man with a white elephant.The animal had to be cared for in high style, since it was a gift. All the work and expense of keeping a huge draft animal, but none of the benefits soon had the courtier more amenable to his superior.
I always thought that the etymology of “white elephant” was related to the Hemingway short story “Hills Like White Elephants.” “White elephant,” and the idea of the “elephant in the room.”
You’ve gotten the story in front of the White Elephant.
Sort of like the cart in front of the horse!
Another possible origin is that large white ceramic elephants were popular decorating items in the Victorian era. As decorating tastes changed, a lot of them wound up in dusty attics, and were regarded as items to be pawned off on some sucker at a yard sale (similar to the old stereotype of a stuffed moose head being offered at a yard sale). So a white elephant of this type would be something large, useless, in the way, and a thing to be pawned off on someone else.
Forgive the question… I’m familiar with the expression of a white elephant as an unwelcome gift… but what exactly is a white elephant gift exchange?? Is that just two people exchanging unwelcome gifts, or is it a term for a system of orchestrating a large gift exchange in which several people may end up with things that they don’t want??
The most recent thread on the subject. 
I know it as a party where everyone brings one of their white elephants. Then they select something someone else brought, sometimes drawing numbers from a hat to determine order of selection.
Or how about that spire in Dublin?