n. A very large issue that everyone is acutely aware of, but nobody wants to talk about. Perhaps a sore spot, perhaps politically incorrect, or perhaps a political hot potato, it's something that no one wants to touch with a ten foot pole. Sometimes pink elephant in the room.
The degeneration of parental responsibility in this country is the elephant in the room, but no one in Washington wants to address it.
Derived from the term ' The Elephant In the Room' which means an obvious truth that is either being ignored or unaddressed . This term is used when we think we know an obvious truth but there is an underline truth that is not apparent at first.
This term was used by Ruka Ruka Ali in his song - Fly Like Me.
Person 1: Wow,elephant in the room or what?
Person 2: Don't be too sure maybe its The Room In the Elephant .
A "pink elephant in the room" is a phrase used to say that there is something very obvious, one cant miss it, yet no one wants to be the person to point it out or talk about it. Its assumed that everyone has noticed it. It may be that pointing it out is politically not correct, impolite, or offensive.
This phrase was first introduced by Sam Senev who brought an actual pink elephant to a speech as a social experiment. After the speech the audience was polled about their opinion. He often uses the same pink elephant in meetings and speeches.