An Elephant of a Different Color

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: “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 “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell explains the difference between a rogue elephant and a tame bull elephant experiencing “must.” (Musth or mustis 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 “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 “going to see the elephant.” When their dreams didn’t pan out, and they returned home empty-handed, they said they’d “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, “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 “big elephant in the room,” the “ginormous elephant in the room,” the “pink elephant in the room,” the “white elephant in the room,” and even the “blue elephant in the room.”

Sometimes the variations are meant to be clever, like calling a pink mansion difficult to sell, a “pink elephant,” or calling the problem of pornography and cursing a “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 “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 “pink elephant” in the room and nip that “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 “the elephant in the room,” not in the sense of something not to be talked about, but as “the largest presence” in publishing.

The once vivid expression “the elephant in the room” has become so clichéd that writers who can’t come up with a new metaphor to express the idea would do better to say, “the problem no one wants to acknowledge.”

What Can I Do You For?

A reader asks to know the difference between “What can I do for you?” and “What can I do you for?”

“What can I do for you?” is the usual expression, a polite inquiry meaning, “How may I help you?” The reversal, “What can I do you for,” is a joke.

Common meanings of the verb “to do” are “to carry out, achieve, bring to pass, to perform, to render, administer, pay, extend, exhibit, show (justice, worship, thanks, etc.) to a person abstract entity.” Here are some examples of its use:

He does as much work as three men.

Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

He asked what he could do to prove his innocence.

They were doing you a favor by offering you that car.

Some say Helene Weigel did most of the work, while Brecht got all the glory.

Just saying the Ben Kingsley Silas Marner movie is “good” doesn’t do it justice; it’s superb.

“What can I do you for,” first appears on the Ngram Viewer in the 1980s. The joke is that in the vocabulary of the criminally minded, “do” is a stand-in verb for various unpleasant acts:

You’d better watch your back, because I’m going to do for you.

See that hick over there? I’m going to do him for at least twenty bucks.

And then there is the delightful scene in My Fair Lady when Eliza is still in the early stages of her linguistic transformation. Here’s a shortened version:

Eliza Doolittle: My aunt died of influenza, or so they said. But it’s my belief they done the old woman in.

Mrs. Higgins: Done her in?

Eliza Doolittle: And what become of her new straw hat that should have come to me? Somebody pinched it. And what I say is: them as pinched it, done her in.

Lord Boxington: Done her in? Done her in, did you say?

Lady Boxington: What ever does it mean?

Mrs. Higgins: It’s the new slang, meaning someone has killed her.

Because of the negative possibilities of “do,” the expression “What can I do you for?” suggests that the speaker is asking how he might take advantage of you. In practice, the people who say it usually intend it as a pleasantry.

ESL speakers need to be aware that “What can I do you for?” is a joke. The correct expression to use when offering to help someone is, “What can I do for you?”

Bespoke

A reader has asked for a discussion of the word bespoke:

I keep reading it in articles, and at least half the time I see it I end up looking it up because it just doesn’t seem correct to me.

Bespoke is an adjective that comes from the archaic English verb bespeak. One of the meanings of the prefix be- is “about.” When miserly Samuel Pepys dreads that a man wants him to be his son’s godfather–an honor that would require some outlay of cash–he says,

[The man] who I feared did come to bespeak me to be godfather to his son.

That is, “who he feared had come to speak to him about the prospect of his standing godfather.”

In early usage bespeak could also mean “to speak out,” “to ask for,” “to tell about,” and “to predict,” as well as the meaning that has survived in thebespoke of the reader’s question: “to engage beforehand; to order goods.”

Bespoke and bespoken are past forms of bespeak. For example,

A new set of chains was bespoke. (A new set of chains was ordered.)

She had arranged or bespoken to have him killed. (She had talked about a hit.)

In its current use as an adjective, bespoke refers to custom-made goods in contrast to goods that are ready-made. The adjective can also refer to a person who provides such goods, (e.g., “a bespoke tailor”).

In England the expression “bespoke suit” is a common way of referring to a tailor-made suit. In the context of conspicuous consumption, bespoke seems to have something to do with the desires of hedonists who don’t know what to do with their money.

Watchmakers look to bespoke design to court the super-rich:” We will offer a bespoke service where the customer has a say on everything: the material, the case, the dial, the hands,” said Thierry Andretta, president of the firm where prices for custom-made watches start at 100,000 Swiss francs ($113,000).

Gourmet dining, private flights, bespoke safaris, slimming clinics and art auctions emerging as top status symbols

The Privileged World City: Private Banking, Wealth Management and the Bespoke Servicing of the Global Super-Rich

American speakers of less extravagant means and tastes are more likely to refer to the things they special-order as “custom-made.”

The Many Meanings of Make

What began as an effort to find out if make can be a linking verb has led me to discover the multitudinous uses of this humble verb.

The verb make has been around so long that its etymology is obscure. It may go back to an Indo-European word meaning “to knead,” as in making dough.

Its usual use is as a transitive verb, but it can also be used as an intransitive verb and a linking verb. Its first sense is ‘to produce, construct, assemble, frame, fashion.” It has numerous figurative meanings and occurs in many English idioms.

Sometime when you have about an hour to spend, look up make in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Here are just a few uses:

make a fire: put together materials and set them alight
make a will (or other document): draw up, compose, draft
make a garden (park, road): prepare a site for a garden
make a scene: display unbridled emotion
make a wound (mark, hole, sound): cause or inflict
make a fool of one’s self: embarrass oneself
make fast: secure
make away with: steal or kill

made of: fashioned out of, as in This coat is made of leather.
made of: (of a person) possessed of certain qualities, as in Let’s see what you’re made of.
made in: manufactured, as in Made in Mexico
made of money: extremely wealthy

Some idioms differ according to context:

to make a difference:
1. make a distinction, discriminate, act or treat differently
2. change a situation

to make time:
1. to schedule one’s activities in order to enable something to be accomplished
2. to be successful in sexual advances

Make is a frequent word in proverbs:

Haste makes waste.
Light purse makes a heavy heart.
Might makes right.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
Practice makes perfect.

So, did I ever find out if make can be a linking verb?

According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, it can. Here are some examples given of make functioning as a linking verb:

She would have made an excellent teacher.
This room would make a nice office.
A hundred cents make one euro.
That makes the third time he’s failed his driving test.